


There for you

by sailorstar165



Series: Familiar Faces [2]
Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Angst, Family, Family Feels, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, One Shot Collection, Raising Allen Walker, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, child allen, nerds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:47:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 23,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23520316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sailorstar165/pseuds/sailorstar165
Summary: In any world, Mana will find Allen and will be there to brighten his life. In a world without Innocence and Noah, this time they won't be parted.
Relationships: Allen Walker & Mana Walker, Kanda Yuu & Allen Walker, Lenalee Lee & Allen Walker, Nea D. Campbell & Allen Walker, Nea D. Campbell & Allen Walker & Mana Walker
Series: Familiar Faces [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692391
Comments: 44
Kudos: 96





	1. First Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in the Familiar Faces AU. You don't really have to read Familiar Faces for this, but it's going to be a collection of one shot-type stuff with that version of Allen and company.
> 
> Also, I'm probably going to retitle this thing like 50 times before I'm happy with it, so sorry about that! ^^;;;

When Allen came to and found himself in a strange room, part of him was relieved. Cosimov had messed up, and Allen had been sent to the hospital. He might hurt all over, but it meant he was free of that bastard. There was no way Cosimov could talk his way out of this one. Not with the bruises he could feel around his neck.

For a few days, Allen had a parade of visitors. A cop with red hair that smelled strongly of cigarettes, the social worker who’d been blind to the situation he’d stuck Allen in, a rotation of doctors checking on his recovery. The cop stopped by regularly to try to get the full story from him, but Allen kept his mouth firmly shut. Cosimov had made it perfectly clear what he’d do to him if he ever told anyone, and while Allen was pretty sure the man would rot in prison, he didn’t want to chance it.

His last day in the hospital saw by far his strangest visitor. A clown stood in the doorway, waving and smiling, which wouldn’t have been notable (Allen had seen enough videos online to know nothing attracted clowns like sick kids), but this guy was dressed as a specific clown from a specific children’s book.

And that pissed Allen off more than it should have. He knew he was small for his age, but Allen was seven years old, not four.

“The hell you want?” he asked, the accent he’d been working on suppressing slipping in. He’d learned some words from Cosimov while with that family.

The clown, Timcanpy’s Clown, tilted his head in mild amusement. He tapped his chin, looking thoughtful, then seemed to get an idea. He pulled a handful of yellow balloons from his pocket and blew them up, one by one. The man didn’t speak, same as the picture book’s clown, and Allen was kind of glad about that. A clown prying would be even worse than the cop.

He watched in mild fascination as Timcanpy’s Clown expertly twisted the yellow balloons together into something like a ball, then added a pair on top to form wings, then a final only slightly inflated balloon to the back as a tail. The clown offered the creation proudly, and it took a moment for Allen to realize that one, the thing was Timcanpy, and two, the clown had made it for him.

When Allen didn’t move to take the Balloon-canpy, the clown’s smile softened as if in understanding—of what, Allen had no idea. He lightly tossed it, and the balloon gently floated through the air and landed with surprising accuracy in Allen’s lap. With that, the clown winked, then left, likely to see the less anti-social patients in the children’s ward.

Allen stayed quiet a long time, just staring at the bizarre gift. When the same redhaired cop came to check on him with the social worker as always, Allen finally broke down and told them what had happened over the last few months.

* * *

Mana was surprised when the child he was fostering turned out to be the boy from the hospital. The boy was equally surprised by Mana, but for different reasons.

The obviously British man had way too much Timcanpy stuff for someone who was supposed to be an adult. Like, Allen had no idea that they _made_ this much Timcanpy stuff. The whole series of books sat on a shelf in the living room with bookends on either side depicting Timcanpy and his Clown leaning against them. There were at least two mugs in the cabinet that had Timcanpy fluttering happily along on the side, one with his clown and one without. Even in Allen’s own room, a definitely handmade plushie of Timcanpy was waiting for him with a comical grin on its face. It was enough to make Allen wonder if this person had been expecting someone far younger.

Allen also began to wonder what Mana did for a job, though he wasn’t about to ask the question. All he knew was that Mana was always there when he woke up in the morning and would do his best to find something both could do together until his brother, Nea, came to babysit around lunch or in the afternoon, though Nea’s coming wasn’t an everyday occurrence. Allen assumed that these times Mana was going to work, though what he did, he found out a week later when Nea asked how the party went.

 _Party?_ Allen pretended to not be interested as he ate his dinner.

“It went well,” Mana replied. “I’m pretty sure I made the first balloon pterodactyl in existence for the birthday boy.”

“Kids ask for weirder and weirder things every year. Whatever happened to wanting puppies?”

“I made a lot of puppies and kittens too. Some things don’t change.”

Allen forgot entirely that he was feigning disinterest and stared at Mana. “You make balloon animals?”

“I wouldn’t be a very good clown if I couldn’t.” Mana paused a moment. “Oh, that's right. I never told you I’m a birthday clown, did I?”

 _That’s_ what Mana did for a living? Did that even _count_ as a job?

Then a thought struck Allen. That clown at the hospital… the one who made him a Timcanpy. That was Mana, wasn’t it? Who else, other than the Timcanpy-obsessed Mana, would make a balloon-version of the little golem when seeing a beat-up kid? Allen hadn’t given much thought to how much Mana might know about him, but if he saw him in the hospital…

He wanted to ask, but he couldn’t make the words come out. It didn’t matter that Mana would have seen the bruises anyway when Allen came here. Mana knew it was bad enough that he’d been in the _hospital_ , and for some reason, that sent Allen’s mind reeling.

Mana took his hands and gave them a light squeeze. He knelt next to Allen’s chair so that they were at eye-level. “Deep breaths, Allen. You’re okay.” His voice was soft and steady.

Allen took a shaky breath. He hadn’t realized he was starting to hyperventilate. His eyes darted from Mana’s face to Nea’s, but the other man was pointedly ignoring them.

“Do you need a minute?” Mana asked, drawing his attention back.

He shook his head no. Mana gave his hands another squeeze, then went back to his chair. He didn’t ask what had set Allen off, for which he was grateful. Allen himself wasn’t sure what had happened either.

* * *

A few days later, Mana took Allen to some kind of office building. At first, Allen wondered if a new social worker was assigned to his case or something after that last… incident, but the room they entered seemed more like a doctor’s waiting room.

The doctor, a surprisingly frumpy man who introduced himself as Dr. Tiedoll, wasn’t what Allen was expecting either. After a brief conversation with Mana, he led Allen to a room with toys and art supplies while Mana went back to the waiting room. He had Allen pick out one of the games for them to play, and soon they started in on a little jigsaw puzzle.

“So Allen,” he started conversationally as they started sorting out the pieces, “why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”

“Like what?”

The doctor hummed to himself thoughtfully, though Allen could tell he already knew what he was going to ask. “Like what your favorite movie is? Or TV show?”

Huh. Allen thought for sure this guy would be trying to wheedle more personal information out of him. “I like Pokémon, I guess.”

“Ah, my son likes that too. Which one’s your favorite?”

“Pikachu.” Duh. Though he did like a couple of the dog Pokémon. “Arcanine’s pretty cool, too.”

Tiedoll chuckled. “I like Smeargle myself.”

He asked a few more innocuous questions, things like what Allen’s favorite subject in school was (gym) and if he’d done anything fun over summer vacation so far (Allen tensed at that question but was able to recover by talking about a movie he’d seen a few weeks ago and liked). After more easy questions (favorite food: everything, favorite book: not that interested, favorite animal: dogs, and more), Allen at last asked, “Why am I here?”

Allen knew what a psychologist was from TV (even if he didn’t know the word for them), and he had a vague idea of what they did. While Tiedoll didn’t fit the image he had of a guy who talks to someone laid out on a couch prodding you for your deepest darkest secrets, he could tell that was what the man was aiming for in a roundabout way.

Tiedoll put a piece in the puzzle. “Mana’s a little worried about you,” he explained. No beating around the bush, just honesty. “He wanted to make sure you’re doing okay and thought you might like to talk to someone.”

The puzzle was almost finished. Allen was running out of ways to avoid making eye contact. He wished he’d picked one with more pieces, even if they wouldn't have finished it. “I don’t wanna talk.” The bruises had mostly healed up. Couldn’t they all just drop it already?

“That’s fine. We don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to.”

 _Yeah right_. Allen didn’t trust this guy not to bring it up again if Mana brought him back here. How much did this guy know, anyway? He put the last piece in the puzzle.

Tiedoll crossed the room and opened a cabinet there. “Our time’s almost up, but I’d like to give you something.” He rummaged around a bit, then returned with a spiral notebook. “Have you ever kept a journal before, Allen?”

Allen shook his head and eyed the plain book. This was sounding suspiciously like homework. Though the Pokémon stickers Tiedoll set beside the notebook piqued his interest. He’d hear Tiedoll out, even if the bribery was obvious.

“I want you to write something every week,” Tiedoll explained. “You can write about anything. Or you can draw. I just want you to put how you’re feeling down on paper.” He nudged the sheet of stickers closer to Allen.

Taking the hint, Allen stuck a Pikachu front and center on the notebook. Tiedoll continued as Allen added a few more stickers, “You don’t have to show it to anyone unless you want to, so you can write anything you want.”

“Then how’re you gonna know I wrote anything?” he challenged.

“Because I know you’re a good kid.”

 _Does he really expect that to work?_ Though Allen knew it would. Besides, Tiedoll told Mana when it was time to go, and though he hadn’t known Mana long, Allen wouldn’t want to disappoint him.


	2. Making Friends

It was Nea’s turn to once again watch Allen, and it being such a nice day, he decided to take Allen to the park down the street from his house. He’d let the kid make some friends and work off some of his pent-up energy for an hour or so, then take him back to Mana’s for dinner. Or that was the plan, anyway. Allen stayed apart from the other kids, opting to climb a tree by himself rather than get involved in games with the others.

Nea sighed and tilted his head back against the bench he was on with a light thunk. At least the kid would tire himself out. Mana had said the kid wasn’t sleeping well. Maybe this would help.

This was how his neighbors, the Lees, and Lenalee’s one friend, Yuu Kanda, found him. Lenalee spotted their music teacher first and ran over with all the excitement of an eight-year-old budding violinist for her favorite teacher.

“Hi Mr. Campbell!” she trilled as he straightened and turned to face them.

“Afternoon,” he replied. Nea gave her brother and Yuu a half-wave. He glanced back at Allen, who had successfully gotten to the branch about two meters up and was watching them intently from his perch. Yeah, he could afford a minor distraction. The kid wasn’t going anywhere.

Komui followed his gaze and commented, “I didn’t know you had a kid.”

“I don’t. That’s Allen, my nephew.” Not technically his nephew yet, but Mana was working on that. Paperwork and bureaucracy took time. “I’m watching him for a bit.”

Always polite, Lenalee asked, “Can we play with him?” while Yuu just scoffed.

Fate had smiled upon him. Lenalee could pull just about anyone out of their shell (case and point, Yuu Kanda). Allen would be in good hands and have at least one new friend whether he liked it or not. “Knock yourselves out.”

While Lenalee dragged a disinterested Yuu along behind her, Nea moved to give Komui space on his bench. He heard her call up to Allen something about playing “Rescue Team,” and after a brief discussion of the rules of whatever game that was together on the ground, they marched off to have some kind of adventure on the playground equipment. As long as they were having fun and staying out of trouble, Nea didn’t care too much what they did.

So while they ran around hunting for imaginary something-or-others, Nea asked, “How goes the teaching degree?”

“It’s going well! I should be able to start student teaching in the spring.”

“Still doing the science thing?”

“But of course!”

Neah was nonchalant as he said, “Just checking. I haven’t heard anything explode in a while, so I thought you might have given it up.” Komui stuck his tongue out at his elder. Oh, the kids would love this guy.

Meanwhile, Allen was beginning to wonder what the point of their game was. Lenalee had assigned each of them a role, and they were running around the playground pretending to rescue people and animals from certain doom. It was a little ridiculous, and as time marched on and Allen felt more and more worn out, he was getting that much closer to abandoning the others and going back to his perch in the tree.

Yuu must have felt the same way because he boycotted the game first. He didn’t say anything, instead just heading for the swing set. Allen looked between the two, a little confused. They were friends, right? Friends didn’t just walk away like that, did they? Not that he exactly had much experience with friends.

Lenalee heaved a dramatic sigh and took Allen’s hand. “Shall we?” Her bright smile was back as she led the way without waiting for his answer.

The swings were preferable to running around aimlessly in Lenalee’s game of pretend at the moment. While Lenalee swung back and forth like a normal person, Allen could sit and watch Yuu do what he’d been told not to for all his young life: stand on the seat while steadily swinging higher and higher before jumping off. If it weren’t for the fact he could practically feel Nea’s eyes on him, Allen would be copying him, exhausted or not.

Eventually, though, Yuu tired of that game as well and sat to watch Lenalee. Now that they were both just hanging around, Allen asked, “Is Yuu short for something?”

“No,” was the grouchy reply.

They lapsed into silence again. Lenalee stopped her swing and looked at the two, tilting her head cutely. “Are you two fighting?”

Yuu made a grumpy noise that sounded like a “No,” to which Lenalee giggled. “Want me to see if Komui brought snacks?”

Snacks sounded good, but Allen knew it had to be getting late. Nea had said something about taking him home for dinner after the park, so ‘ruining his appetite’ probably wasn’t a good idea. He didn’t want Mana to get mad at him for that. Not that he’d ever seen Mana mad, but there was a first time for everything, right?

As if on cue, Nea called, “Allen! It’s time for us to head home!”

“Awwww, really?” Lenalee pouted a bit. Then a big grin lit up her face as she ran back to her brother. “Hey, hey, can Allen come to the pool with us tomorrow?”

 _Pool?_ Allen stopped dead in his tracks. He hated pools. Large bodies of water in general, really. His last foster family had a pool, and Cosimov had offered to teach him to swim once summer break started. Then the bastard had tried to drown him as a “joke.”

Nea saw the look of pure terror that crossed Allen’s face at the mention of the pool. “Allen’s not much for swimming,” he said, moving quickly to gather Allen up for a piggyback ride. The boy’s hands dug into his shoulders, shaking. He felt Allen hide his face against the back of his shirt. “Sorry we can’t stay longer, but Mana’s expecting us.”

Komui waved cheerily. "Some other time then. Have a good one!"

* * *

Once safely inside his little ranch house, Nea texted ahead that they’d be a little late, then set about calming Allen down. Mana was better at this kind of thing, but Nea had a few tricks up his sleeve. He _was_ a teacher and had sat through more than enough training for what to do with panicking children, even if he preferred dealing with high schoolers.

“It’ll be all right,” he said, rubbing soothing circles against Allen’s back as the boy did his best to become one with the couch. He had tensed at the touch at first, but once it was clear Nea meant no harm, relaxed a bit more. “I know you’re a little shaky right now, but it’ll stop soon. Just take some deep breaths.”

Allen shook his head against the couch cushion. His fingers dug more firmly into the throw pillow he clutched to his chest as a lifeline.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” Nea continued. When Allen shook his head again, he suppressed a sigh. Well, Mana hadn’t been able to get much out of the kid either, and Allen preferred his twin to Nea. It was a good thing he was only going to be the uncle when all was said and done.

Slowly, the shaking form stilled, and Nea wondered if Allen had fallen asleep from exhaustion until Allen peeked at him from where his pale face was smushed into the couch. “I don’t wanna go to the pool,” came his muffled voice.

“You don’t have to,” Nea promised.

Allen turned his face back into the cushion and mumbled something else that Nea didn’t catch. “Mind repeating that, kiddo?”

“I wanna see ‘em again. Just not at the pool.”

Ah, so he hadn’t been quite so put off by Lenalee and Yuu as he’d seemed on the swing set. Good. His totally accidental master plan of getting Allen to become friends with Lenalee was working. “I’ve got the Lees’ number, and Komui has Mana’s. We can set something up for another day.”

Allen nodded, then returned to his state of oneness with the couch. Nea let him lay there a few more minutes as he got his keys and sent another text warning Mana what he was in for. Though, maybe the car ride and promise of dinner would help. Maybe.

“Ready to go home?” he asked the unmoving lump. He earned an irritated grunt, but Allen got up and followed him to the car.


	3. Ice Cream

Allen glared at the blank page in front of him. It was Sunday evening, the time he and Mana had agreed upon for Dr. Tiedoll’s assignment. To try and literally sweeten the deal, Mana had promised him a scoop of ice cream when he was finished. And not just any ice cream. Mana had gotten the good stuff for the bribe: the kind they hand scooped at the ice cream parlor.

That didn’t make it easier to think of something to write though. The blank notebook page was taunting him the same way it had the previous week.

“You could write about going to the park yesterday,” offered Mana helpfully when he’d been scowling at the page a good five minutes.

That was a good suggestion, but Allen was so fed up with the assignment already that instead of thanking him, he snapped without thinking, “Shaddup!” He tensed, instantly regretting it and afraid that Mana would be mad at him, but the man just chuckled good-naturedly from the kitchen as he opened one of the cabinets.

Oh, he was getting out the chopped pecans for their ice cream. The bribery was getting stronger. Allen picked up his pen and went with Mana’s suggestion.

 _I went to the park,_ he wrote in big clumsy letters. _I played a game with Leenallee and You. It was dum but kind of fun._ He frowned at the couple of sentences. Most of it was probably spelled wrong, Lenalee and Yuu’s names especially. Whatever, no one else was going to read this.

He didn’t write about Lenalee inviting him to the pool, nor about remembering what Cosimov did and blanking out. Allen had mostly blocked that out from his mind, and he wasn’t about to think about it again now for a stupid writing assignment when there was ice cream to be had.

He tacked on the end, _I yelled at Mana again but he did not get mad at me. I think it is ~~weird~~ ~~wierd~~ creepy that he does not get mad,_ because he felt like he hadn’t written enough with the previous few sentences. _Mana never gets mad._ Allen paused, trying to think if he’d ever seen Mana get annoyed either. Nope. Never annoyed either. Nea got annoyed with him once or twice, but not mad. At him anyway. He’d seen Nea get angry at someone once, a quiet seething that made Allen nervous, but it passed quickly and he was back to his usual, loveably sarcastic—as Nea put it—self.

Deciding that was enough to earn his treat, Allen shut the notebook. No sooner had he done so than a little dish of ice cream topped with nuts appeared, and it was as delicious as it looked.

Mana ruffled his hair. “Are you getting the hang of journaling?”

“Not really,” Allen replied around a mouthful of ice cream. It still felt like homework, the bane of his existence.

“It’ll get easier soon enough. It takes practice.”

Allen scowled at that. He didn’t want to practice journaling. It was an annoyance at best. As it was, he still didn’t write anything particularly personal in it for fear that Mana or, much more likely, Nea would start pawing through it.

The phone rang, and after another pat on Allen’s head, Mana went to answer it. Allen pretended not to listen, but he couldn’t help but be curious. There was always the chance that the phone call involved him somehow, either as the subject or as the target for fallout.

“Hello? Yes, this is Mana speaking.” Pause. “No, no, it’s not too late. Did you get the sketches?” Another pause. “Ah, that’s good. I’m glad. I’ll get to work on it right away.” Allen could tell the man was beaming from his voice. That was good. He wanted Mana to be happy.

Allen frowned around his ice cream spoon at that thought. He was spending too much time with Mana, if he was starting to think like that. If this kept up, he’d lose the shell of toughness he’d developed over his time spent in foster care, and he wouldn’t let that happen. Not again. In case Mana turned traitor too.

After a few more pleasantries with the man on the phone, Mana returned to the kitchen with a sketchbook and an assortment of pens and markers in different colors. At first, Allen thought this was some other attempt for them to bond, but instead of making him participate, Mana just drew while he and Allen talked.

Conversation lapsed quickly, though, when Allen saw what Mana was drawing: Timcanpy. Not just Timcanpy. The Clown too. _And_ he was writing words like captions beneath the pictures. He knew the man was obsessed, but this much?

Mana caught Allen staring and radiated good humor as he held a finger to his lips, like this was some kind of secret or something that he was drawing Timcanpy. Allen’s frown deepened as he deadpanned, “The hell’s that s’posed to be?”

“The book I’m writing,” was the simple response. “And don’t swear, Allen. You'll hurt someone's feelings.”

A… book? Allen stared at the page he was working on, at the goofy Clown looking far too excited as he informed Timcanpy of something. The cogs in his head were turning as things began to add up. The insane amount of Timcanpy stuff. Mana’s clown looking just like the one from the books. The fact Allen had caught Mana staring off into space with the sketchbook in hand, pencil poised for when inspiration struck. Nea asking about Mana’s new project.

His head snapped up. Their first names were the same, even if their last names weren’t. “You write Timcanpy?!”

“It’s a secret, so don’t tell anyone,” Mana said conspiratorially. His tone was one of mock-serious and his eyes betrayed nothing but mirth.

This put Allen in a tough spot. If he was a little younger, still young enough for the Timcanpy books, he might have felt something akin to hero worship for the man before him. Older (say, high school or college), and he might have been impressed and embraced it. But Allen was going into second grade in the fall and was the type to push all he considered for babies aside. Even though he slept holding on to the stuffed Timcanpy, he’d rather have teeth pulled out than admit it.

As a result, he wasn’t sure how to react to this news. He really did love— _like_ , he corrected himself—Timcanpy. In the constant upheaval that was his life before Mana, Tim had been a bright spot for him. To find out that he was living under the same roof as the very author who’d created Timcanpy when he considered himself too old to entertain thoughts of the little golden golem… what was he supposed to feel? Happy? Annoyed?

Allen settled for annoyed. That was easier. “Weirdo,” he grumbled before taking his bowl to the sink.

“I do mean it though,” Mana said, going back to the page he was working on. “It _is_ a secret that I write Timcanpy’s adventures, so don’t tell anyone.”

Perplexed, Allen asked, “Why's it secret?” Mana was obviously proud of the books, and if his friends ever came over—a big if, since he didn’t know if Lenalee and Yuu could be considered friends after playing at the park one time—there were bound to be questions.

“Because kids would be disappointed if they found out a boring adult wrote them.”

 _That_ was the reason? Mana was hardly boring! The man was a clown! He made balloon animals and could juggle! Heck, he had a few comedic magic tricks he had shown Allen just the other day! And now Allen knew he could draw and tell stories and cheer up kids whose lives sucked _without ever meeting them._

“You’re not boring!” he blurted out before he could stop himself, and realizing what he’d just said, the boy blushed before turning tail and running upstairs to the safety of his room.

Mana started when the bedroom door slammed, then laughed softly to himself. Rough as he was around the edges, Allen was definitely a good kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to hug the pair of them. so. badly.


	4. The Main Street Fair

“Why couldn't Mana come with us?” Allen griped as they headed for the car.

Nea rolled his eyes. “He’s got work. He’ll join us later.”

Allen pouted as he buckled himself in the backseat, and Nea wondered if he knew he was doing it or how cute the grumpy expression was. _Ugh, I’m turning into Mana_. “You’ll see him there, don’t worry.”

“What’s that s’posed to mean?”

He should probably give the kid some warning, since they were meeting up with his friends from the park. “Timcanpy’s Clown is going to be at the fair too.”

There was that irritated scowl again. “Great,” the boy mumbled, the sarcasm so palpable, Nea had to laugh. That just made Allen glower all the more.

“All right, all right, I’ll stop.” As fun as it was to tease his not-yet-nephew, they still had most of the afternoon ahead of them with other people. It wouldn’t do to get him too riled up before they even got there.

The Main Street Fair was one of the big “events” City Hall put on every year at the end of summer. As a result, the couple blocks up and down Main Street from city hall were packed with local businesses, food vendors, and all of the local groups with activities for the kids to promote whatever it was they did. Parking wasn’t as painful as Nea thought it would be, and soon, they were waiting by the little clocktower that marked their meeting place.

“You weren’t waiting long, were you?” Komui asked upon their arrival.

“Just got here.” Nea glanced over the little group. Lenalee and Yuu he’d expected, but there was an extra adult he vaguely recognized from one of those parent-teacher things he was forced to attend despite no one ever wanting to talk to the music teacher about their kids.

Whoever it was, Allen recognized him judging by the way he was staring until Nea noticed and he turned his attention to his friends.

“I’m Froi Tiedoll, Yuu’s father,” the man said, offering a hand.

“Nea Campbell, Allen’s uncle. Pleasure to meet you.” He glanced down at Lenalee, “So what are we doing first?” He knew who would ultimately be in charge of this expedition.

Komui answered while scrolling through text messages on his phone, “We’re waiting on two more, then we’ll be heading to the library for that book signing.”

“Book signing?” Allen and Yuu repeated in perfect sync.

Lenalee giggled. “Timcanpy’s Clown is gonna be at the library, remember? Alma told us all about it the other day.”

Yuu’s lips turned down into a frown. “That’s for _babies._ ”

“Clowns aren’t for babies,” Lenalee replied. “I wanna see him juggle, and Alma said he wanted get his book signed.”

Allen wasn’t sure who Alma was, but he assumed he must be much younger than them. Needless to say, he was surprised when the person in question was actually a little older than Allen, about the same age as Yuu, and glommed on to the other ten-year-old on sight.

“Get offa me, you weirdo!”

“But I wuv you, Yuu!” Alma squealed.

Yuu unceremoniously shoved him away. “And I can’t stand you!” When Alma’s lip began to quiver, he took the other boy’s hand and looked royally pissed by the whole thing, but at least Alma’s incoming tantrum was stopped in its tracks. None of the adults seemed bothered by this except maybe for Nea, though it had just been a flicker of concern that died away when those more familiar with their bickering didn’t react.

“Sorry we’re late,” Alma’s older brother Bak was saying while Alma and Yuu greeted each other in their usual fashion. “Traffic was awful. I forgot all about the construction.”

Tiedoll chuckled. “Not a problem. We weren’t waiting long. Now then,” he clapped his hands to get the children’s attention, “shall we head over for that book signing?”

Alma’s eyes lit up, all trace of the earlier threat of tears gone in an instant. Then a thought seemed to strike him and he glommed on to his brother’s arm in a panic. “Bak! My book!”

“Right here,” he replied, holding up a well-loved copy of _Timcanpy and the Circus_. Again, Alma’s face brightened. This kid was going to give both Allen and Nea emotional whiplash.

Once that was settled, the group made their way over to the library. A crowd had already formed in the little courtyard around a clown doing tricks, but the adults standing farther back parted to let the kids through.

Seeing the new members of his audience, Mana shifted to juggling one handed while he waved to the latest additions. Alma and Lenalee were duly impressed. Allen and Yuu were as well, though they didn’t show it as openly. Still, they didn’t take their eyes off the clown as he balanced on his ball and did his tricks. After about fifteen more minutes of juggling and acrobatics, though, and the show was over. He bowed, and a librarian came over to tell the kids who wanted balloon animals or autographs to line up.

Alma, eager as ever, grabbed Yuu’s arm and dragged him into line while Allen and Lenalee followed after. For moral support in the case of Allen. It wasn’t like he couldn’t get a balloon animal later if he wanted one, though they wouldn’t know that.

When their turn came around, Mana was all smiles as usual and signed Alma’s beat up book. Once it was signed, he quickly twisted a balloon into a flower at Alma’s request and made a little tiara for Lenalee. For Yuu, a sword, and just as he turned to Allen for a request, Yuu bopped the other boy on the head with his new weapon. Irritated, Allen asked for the same and proceeded to try and get Yuu back. The little balloon war ended quickly after Allen got a swing in with Nea and Tiedoll grabbing their charges and forcing them apart.

“So,” Komui said once the kids were successfully escorted back outside, “what should we do next?”

“Funnel cake?” suggested Lenalee hopefully.

“Fried veggies?” added Alma. “And cheese on a stick!”

Yuu rolled his eyes. “You’re just going to drown them in mayo again.”

“But mayo’s so tasty!”

It was generally agreed upon that food was in order, and so they headed to the many food vendors. After purchasing far too much fried food than could possibly be considered healthy (even with the vegetables), the group took over a picnic table and chowed down. Alma was even able to convince Allen to try a bite of the fried cheese with mayonnaise on top, which he grudgingly admitted wasn’t bad, but unnecessary.

By the time Mana was able to join them (in street clothes and looking not at all like he’d just been Timcanpy’s Clown), the group had finished their snack and worked their way through half the fair. Alma’s reaction upon seeing, or more accurately hearing, Mana was instant and made Allen prickle in irritation: “You sound like Harry Potter!”

Unlike Allen, Mana just chuckled at the comparison. “That’s what happens when you’re British,” he replied.

Alma turned to Nea. “How come you don’t sound like that too?”

Nea rolled his eyes and easily slipped back into his own accent with, “I’m just better at hiding it.”

At this, Alma practically vibrated with excitement. “Can you say a spell? Please?”

Mana was about to indulge him, but Yuu had different ideas. Maybe because he’d noticed Allen’s small flare of anger at a perceived insult, Yuu bopped Alma on the head with his balloon sword as he had Allen earlier. “Knock it off, idiot.”

This time, Alma didn’t get depressed. He pointed his flower at Yuu and cried, “Expelliarmus!” The balloon-wielding swordsman just smirked at him, refusing to play along. “You’re supposed to drop your sword, Yuu.”

“That’s not a wand,” pointed out Yuu, still smirking, “and neither is this. Your magic does nothing.”

Lenalee decided to get in on this game too. “Sir Kanda has become too powerful in the dark arts,” she informed Allen in an eight-year-old's approximation of a regal tone. “Sir Campbell, we must do something to stop him!”

Allen hesitated, unsure how to react. Campbell was Mana’s last name, not his, though he could see how Lenalee would make that mistake. He glanced at Mana, who just gave him a gentle nudge and said, “Well Sir Campbell? Can’t keep your princess waiting.”

That was enough for Allen, who raised his balloon sword and said, “I won’t let ya down, Princess!” before happily taking the excuse to bop Yuu on the head. Okay, this playing pretend thing was more fun than he originally thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that last bit was just pure self-indulgence on my part.
> 
> I may or may not get into it eventually, but my backstory for Allen in this AU is that he was born in Great Britain (about the same area as the Campbells are from), his family moved to the US when he was about 6 (I assume long enough for him to pick up the accent, but I'm no expert) and due to circumstances, ended up in foster care. In these younger stories, he's mostly hiding his British-ness. He ended up keeping the accent when he was older because Mana, though he can slip out of it easily like Nea if he wants to.
> 
> Not sure if I'll ever get to older Allen stuff because it's too much fun to write little Allen. >////<


	5. Birth of Crown Clown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teen Allen chapter because this popped into my head :) Literally nothing happens in this chapter though lol

Allen was the type who, once he got an idea in his head, saw it through to the end with a determination that was to be envied. So when he asked to borrow the piano for the afternoon and showed up with his convention costume, Nea relented, though not without asking questions.

“Okay, what are you up to now?”

The teen had rigged his phone so that it would record the piano and was shrugging on his Victorian long coat. “Becoming a Youtube sensation.”

Nea rolled his eyes at that. “I’m old and out of touch, and even I know that’s impossible these days.”

“That’s why I’ve got the costume.” He pulled a silver masquerade mask from his pocket and put it on, then finished the look with one of Mana’s goofy top hats, the one trimmed with playing cards. “How do I look?”

“Like an idiot.”

Allen’s response was to stick his tongue out before organizing his sheet music.

“That’s mighty mature of you,” Nea chided with a smirk. His eyes swept over the music Allen was going to play and gave a low whistle. “Sure you can handle that in one take?”

“I could play it in my sleep.” Once his music was in order, he started the recording. “You’re welcome to listen. Just be quiet.”

“Sure thing, boss,” he teased, plopping down on the couch.

The piano was in the basement, which was soundproofed to keep the street noise out while Nea gave private piano lessons or played accompaniment to violinists practicing for solo competitions. The piano itself also served Allen’s purpose well. Being an upright piano stained white with black keys, it would stand out online and look good in the video. It also sounded amazing, making Allen’s electronic keyboard that he used for practice pale in comparison.

Allen took a breath, checked his recording and sheet music one more time to make sure things were in order, then started to play. He had decided that, like Mana, he wouldn’t talk. His username on Youtube was Crown Clown, and his goal with the costume was to look the part. The mask was small, only covering his eyes, but it gave him the appearance of a fancy Pierrot just a little bit. Offset by his dapper gentleman outfit, it would probably work.

His fingers danced over the keys, the sound of the notes they produced crystal clear. He resisted the urge to sing along, despite the fact the lyrics were drilled into his head at this point. Allen was far better at piano than vocals, and he wasn’t going to mess this up with his voice.

He came to the end of the song, let the last note hang, then removed his hands from the keys. He waited a few beats to give some wiggle room for the end of the video, then stopped the recording. “What did you think?” he asked, signaling it was safe to make noise again.

His uncle applauded. “Not bad. Did you write that yourself?”

“Transcribed it,” Allen replied. “I added some flourishes and tacked on a coda and stuff, but the main melody isn’t mine.” He put one earbud in and pressed play on the video.

“And it’s different enough to monetize?” Again, Nea was not an expert on the ways of the internet.

“I ran everything by Lenalee’s dad, and he said I should be good. If they demonetize me, they demonetize me, but Youtube shouldn’t take it down.” The recording sounded pretty good, and the costume, dumb as Nea said it was, filmed pretty well with the piano, the former being a warmer tan coat and dark pants and the latter being a cool white. He’d run through the piece a few more times and pick the best recording to post.

Seeing that Allen would be at this a while, Nea said, “Have fun with that. Let me know when you’re done,” before heading upstairs.


	6. Nightmares and Illness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emetophobic folk, you have been warned

_Long time no see, Red! Looks like you’re doin’ pretty well for yourself. Hey, how about you and me play a little game, hm? You’ll_ love _it. Promise~_

* * *

Always the light sleeper, it didn’t take much to wake Mana even in the dead of night. In college, he’d honed this into the ability to know exactly when Nea stumbled back after a night of partying with his friends. Also due to Nea’s partying, Mana was nearly immune to the sound of sickness. As a result, when he heard the patter of feet carrying someone in a staggering run to the bathroom, he was up and ready for what he found.

The sight of Allen shaking and retching wasn’t the worst thing he’d seen (Nea after one particularly crazy night on the town won that award), but it hurt in a way Mana wasn’t expecting. He crossed the little bathroom in a few steps and saw Allen tense at the sound. Another night terror, then? Though the boy didn’t normally get sick from those.

“It’s just me,” whispered Mana. “Does your stomach hurt?”

Allen nodded, awake enough to comprehend the question, before throwing up again. He looked absolutely miserable.

Careful not to move too quickly, Mana felt Allen’s forehead. Finding hot clammy skin, he opened a nearby drawer for the thermometer. “I need to take your temperature,” he informed the child before placing the device in his ear. Again, Allen stiffened, but held still until the beep sounded.

High enough to be concerned about, but low enough that some children’s Tylenol would do the trick. Mana retrieved that and some Pepto-Bismol from the medicine cabinet and measured out the doses. Allen looked upon the medicine with distrust, but somehow Mana convinced him to take it.

“Let’s get you back to bed. Want me to carry you?” Allen was a little less wild-eyed now, but Mana hesitated regardless. Nightmares and terrors plagued the boy, and he rarely reacted well to touch after them. Being picked up without warning would make things worse, not better.

Stubbornly, Allen shook his head and wobbled on his feet. Sick or not, he had an independent streak. Mana sighed and followed after.

Once tucked back in, Allen turned away from Mana to go back to sleep. Or pretend to, anyway. He didn’t want to close his eyes again with that dream still fresh in his mind. But Mana was hovering anxiously and wouldn’t go away. Allen forced himself to relax and close his eyes, even if he wouldn’t let himself fall asleep. Still, Mana hung around.

“Just go away,” he finally whined.

“I will when you go to sleep,” Mana promised. The medicine must have been working if Allen had enough energy to glare like that instead of just passing out, though the one would make him sleepy soon.

“I don’t wanna sleep.”

“Why not? You’ll feel better.”

Allen curled up more tightly. “’Cause I don’t wanna.” He was shaking again, Mana noticed, but he wasn’t sure whether it was from chills or the memory of the nightmare he must have had before waking up sick to his stomach.

“Did you have a bad dream?” asked Mana as he sat on the bed. There was no response to his question, but he could tell by the way Allen shrunk in on himself just a little more that he’d guessed right. “Would you like to talk about it?” He risked petting Allen’s hair, and it seemed to have the desired soothing effect.

Still, the answer to his question was a whimpered, “No.”

This had become a familiar routine since Allen had come a few months prior. Allen would have a nightmare, Mana would wake due to what Allen had begun to refer to as his “creepy sixth sense,” and though he would offer to listen, Allen would refuse to talk. Mana would then tell him that Timcanpy was great at keeping secrets if he wanted to tell someone, earn a sharp tongue-lashing for treating him like a baby, and then hear Allen’s muffled voice through the door as he did as his foster father suggested once he’d gone. When he’d peek in a little later, he’d find Allen asleep with the stuffed golem held tight.

With Allen feverish, however, Mana didn’t want to rely on that. Sleep was the best medicine.

 _“Then the boy went to sleep,”_ Mana sang softly, the song he’d heard a million times as a boy coming easily, _“and one or two embers alive in the ashes flared up in the shape of your lovely face.”_

Allen shifted a bit to frown at him even as his eyelids drooped from exhaustion and the medicine. He let Mana sing a little longer before muttering sleepily, “That’s kinda sad.”

“Oh?”

Eyes closed and still frowning even as he drifted off, he mumbled, “It’s sappy…” a tiny yawn, “too.”

His breathing evened out in sleep. _Good_. Mana adjusted the blanket and slipped out of the room. He’d check on him again in a bit, but for now, it was best to let him get his rest.

* * *

It was late when Allen woke up the next morning. Groggy from sleep, he glanced at his clock and felt a flash of panic when he saw the time. School. What about school? He must have slept through his alarm again, and Mana hadn’t checked to see if he was up. He scrambled out of bed, tripped over the blanket he was still tangled in, and fell with a _thump_.

Hurried footsteps preceded his door being flung open. “Are you okay?” asked Mana.

“I’m late for school!”

Stunned into momentary silence, Mana could only stare at Allen a few moments before he chuckled. “I called you off sick. How are you feeling?”

Allen felt the heat creep into his face. Right, he’d been sick last night. He was too embarrassed to accept Mana’s help getting up off the floor. “’m fine.”

He was looking a lot better, too. Maybe not a hundred percent yet, but getting there. “Would you like some breakfast, or…?” Allen’s stomach rumbled in response, and Allen’s blush deepened. Mana ruffled his hair. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Allen didn’t eat much, but what he did stayed down at least. The burst of energy from earlier was gone now, and much of the rest of the day was spent laying on the couch staring at the television when he wasn’t dozing. Mana kept an eye on him, waking him occasionally so he’d eat some crackers or to drink some ginger ale. By evening, Allen’s fever was gone and he was back to his usual grumpy self.

When bedtime came around, he wasn’t happy. “But I slept all day,” Allen complained when Mana informed him of this.

“No buts. You’re still recovering.” He ruffled Allen’s hair and was swatted for the trouble. “Want me to run a bubble bath for you?”

Allen groused back, “I hate bubbles,” to be contrary, but was happy when Mana had seen through it. By the time his head hit the pillow that night, he was out like a light and no dreams plagued him.


	7. Meeting the Family

Christmas had always been something Allen had a love-hate relationship with. His birthday was on Christmas, which meant birthday cake. His birthday being on Christmas also meant he often got Christmas-themed gifts for his birthday, if anyone remembered it at all. Going into the holiday season this year with Mana and Nea was already going to be a strange new experience, but an unexpected twist was thrown into the mix just to mess with them all.

Originally, it was only going to be Mana and Nea’s mother (Allen’s not-yet grandmother as Nea joked), Katerina. Then more of the family invited themselves along, much to their—especially Nea’s—annoyance.

“I can handle Tyki and Tricia,” griped Nea, “but can’t we uninvite Sheril?”

“You’d invite his wife and brother, but not him?” Mana asked incredulously.

“We didn’t invite _any_ of them to begin with! Sheril did.”

This wasn’t the first time Allen had heard them discuss their relatives coming for the holidays. Mana had told him that Tyki and Sheril were their nephews (Allen’s soon-to-be cousins, the man hoped) and were much older than Allen. From what he gathered, Tyki was the younger of the two and still in high school. Sheril was older, married, and had a daughter a few years younger than Allen. He’d also figured out early on that Sheril was strongly disliked by his father and uncle, though Mana wouldn’t say so out loud. Nea, on the other hand, was not so reserved with his opinion of that particular nephew.

With his opinion of Sheril already influenced, that just left the mystery of Tyki. Neither of the adults had much to say one way or the other about him, though Allen wondered if the cause was Sheril being so thoroughly detested. He just wished he knew whether Tyki was the lesser of two evils or an okay guy with a brother his uncle disliked for some reason.

Upon their arrival, Allen found that it was the latter, much to his relief.

“It’s been too long!” the man known as Sheril practically cooed as he went in for a hug. Mana tolerated the affection; Nea sidestepped it entirely, much to Sheril’s irritation.

Then his eyes fell on Allen, who took the opportunity to hide behind Mana. Sheril gave him the creeps. No way was he trusting this guy.

“Ah, and this must be little Allen! I’ve heard so much about you!” Allen clung a little closer to his father, which made Sheril laugh. “My, aren’t we shy.”

“It’s because you’re scaring him,” said Tyki, giving his brother a light kick to the calf. A dark-haired little girl clung to his back like a monkey, watching Allen with big violet eyes.

Sheril frowned at this news. “I’m not scary.”

“You’re a giant he’s never met before. That’s pretty scary to a kid. Right, Road?” he asked his little monkey, who agreed whole-heartedly with a mischievous glint to her eyes.

Her answer seemed to physically wound Sheril, much to the five-year-old’s amusement. Katerina’s as well, if the good humor in the old woman’s eyes were any indication.

They went out for dinner that night to a Japanese restaurant not far from the hotel where they would be staying at Tyki’s request. Allen was just happy there was something else to eat other than the weird stuff the adults were eating (raw fish? Ick, no thank you).

“Are you sure you don’t want to try any?” Nea teased his nephew, holding out a piece of sushi with very red tuna on top with his chopsticks. He chuckled when Allen made a face, but stopped dead when Road took him up on the offer instead. “Hey!”

“Snooze you lose, Uncle,” she chirped.

“I was offering that to Allen.”

“And he's too chicken, so I took it.”

One did not simply call Allen a chicken and get away with it. “Am not! You just grabbed it before I could!”

Road snagged another piece, this time off her father’s plate, and held it out to Allen. The wicked grin never left her face as she said with a teasing lilt, “Then say ‘Ah.’”

She’d played him. Still, the gauntlet had been thrown. He was _not_ going to be shown up by a little girl not even in grade school yet. Allen took the sushi, his pride refusing to allow her to feed it to him, popped it in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. Huh, it wasn’t half bad.

“Well, that’s one way to get kids to try new things,” observed Katerina. The way she smiled was the same as Mana’s. For a brief moment, Allen thought for sure she’d somehow orchestrated this whole thing with Road.

Katerina’s comment earned a round of laughter from the adults and an affectionate pat on the head for Allen from Mana, and previous boring adult conversation resumed. There was a lot of catching up to be done, Allen learned, when much of one’s family lived across an ocean. Even with phones and the internet, there was just something about being there in person.

At the end of the meal, Allen found himself rewarded for his patience with a sweet he’s never encountered before. The plate had three skewers of the mysterious colorful confection, one for “each of the children” according to Sheril. Tyki picked up one of the sticks without any more prompting and pulled one of the spheres off with his teeth. Road followed suit and her expression dissolved into happiness with the first bite.

Allen was a little more hesitant. Yeah, the raw fish turned out to be okay, but it was still weird. This dango thing, too, was weird and kind of squishy like a marshmallow, but most certainly not a marshmallow, whatever it was. Before Road could tease him about being chicken again as she certainly would when she finished her skewer, he took a bite. Sweet, sticky, and chewy. _Yum_.

“Is it good?” Mana asked, though Allen’s big smile was answer enough. His foster son nodded eagerly in response before stuffing another dango in his mouth. Then he offered the last piece to Mana, much to his surprise. “It’s all yours, Allen.” He ruffled his hair, and Allen happily finished the dessert.

Nea checked his watch as Sheril paid for the meal. “It’s been great, but I’m sure you all want to go to your hotel and crash.” Road looked about ready to fall asleep leaning against Tyki despite her earlier exuberance.

Goodbyes were said, and family dropped off to get some much-needed rest. As Mana and Allen headed home, the elder asked, “So how’d you like them?”

Allen hummed to himself thoughtfully. “I liked Road and Grandma Kat, but I dunno about Sheril.”

“And Tyki?”

Mana was fishing for some reason. He wasn’t a very good liar, despite the sort-of double-life he lived with his author-clown persona. “Tyki’s okay.” He seemed nice enough, but Allen had been fooled one too many times before. As it was, a part of Allen was still waiting for Mana to reveal that his affections had all been an elaborate ruse. Even though Allen had begun to think of Mana as family, there was still that chance he was wrong.

* * *

The reason for Mana’s question became clear the next day when the adults went out in the afternoon and left Tyki to babysit Allen and Road. The teen was surprisingly cool with it, apparently just as tired of his brother as Nea was.

“So, got any movies you want to watch?” Tyki asked, perusing the shelf by the TV. It was mostly books, since Mana was a bookworm, but there was quite the variety of animated movies.

Road, too, was looking through at her eye-level. Her finger paused in tracing the DVD cases, and she let out a squeal of delight. “Uncle Mana has Lilo and Stitch!”

“Oh, that’s a good one. You seen it yet, Allen?”

He hadn’t. Between homework and hanging out with Lenalee, Yuu, and Alma, he hadn’t had a lot of time to watch any of Mana’s little collection. “Nope. Is it good?”

“Disney’s best, in my humble opinion,” Tyki replied before popping the disk into the DVD player. It had to be good, if a high schooler was admitting to loving a kid’s movie.

And good it was. It also made Tyki’s job super easy having them be glued to the television. By the time the movie was over, he’d already picked their next activity having found a deck of Uno cards.

It was a game that Tyki won every time. “You’ve gotta be cheating,” Allen snapped after his and Road’s fourth straight loss.

“He is,” Road replied simply.

Tyki grinned. “Hey, maybe it’s birthday luck.”

Road rolled her eyes and threw her cards down. “It’s not your birthday yet.”

“I’m cashing in a few days early. Christmas babies can do that.”

Allen stopped watching Tyki’s shuffling. “Your birthday’s Christmas, too?”

Tyki shrugged. “Yeah. It kinda sucks.”

He’d found a brother in misery. “’Cause everyone gives ya Christmas stuff instead of birthday stuff.”

“Yeah! And friends’ll shortchange you and give you one thing for both!”

Road picked up her new hand of cards. “Daddy and Grandma Kat don’t do that.”

Tyki patted her on the head. “Oh, you sweet summer child. You’ll never understand our pain.”

They played another round of Uno, and though it wasn’t clear if Tyki had stopped cheating this time around or if he was using his powers for good, Allen finally won.


	8. There's More?! (Or Allen's First Birthday and Christmas with the Campbells)

Christmas morning rolled around, and as kids are apt to do, Allen was up far too early and taking the stairs two at a time. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he stood stock still a moment, taking it all in. The stockings Mana had hung for them by the fireplace had been stuffed with goodies. Underneath the tree in the glow of the lights were more presents than Allen had seen in… well, ever. One or two were marked from Santa— _like he exists,_ Allen thought with a roll of his eyes—but many were from names he didn’t recognize, all for him.

“Happy Christmas,” said Mana with a yawn as he came down. He smiled at Allen’s stupefied expression.

“Who’re all these people?” Allen asked, looking from one tag to the next.

“We have a big family,” Mana explained. “You’ve got lots of aunts and uncles and a bunch of cousins you haven’t met yet.”

“There’re more?!” Already he’d thought the family was huge with just the cousins he _had_ met. If there were more…

Mana chuckled, knowing exactly what he was thinking. “Don’t worry, Nea and I have trouble keeping track sometimes too. Now how about we open some presents, hm?”

The gifts were a crazy variety that ranged from foreign snacks Allen looked forward to munching on later to board games he could play with his friends to clothes that most kids might not appreciate but Allen was touched to receive. By far his favorite gift, though, was the keyboard from Mana and Nea. He’d been learning to play on Nea’s beautiful piano, and now he had his own.

“You’ll be able to play something for everyone when they come over later,” Mana said as Allen eagerly set it up. “You know a carol or two now, right?”

Allen nodded and played a little of Jingle Bells to test the instrument. The notes sounded a little tinny to his ears when compared to Nea’s piano, but for Allen, it was perfect. Uncle Nea had probably been planning this for a while, having started teaching Allen a few easier Christmas songs weeks ago. Allen grinned to himself. He couldn’t wait to show off.

They left just after lunch to go collect the rest of the family. It required both Nea and Mana’s cars, and some debates over who would be in which car, but they eventually made it back to Mana’s house.

“Looks like you made out like a bandit,” commented Tyki as he looked over Allen’s haul beneath the tree. “Ready for round two?”

“Round two?” Allen repeated.

“Birthday presents, remember?”

Allen looked once more at the gifts under the tree, then back to Tyki, not quite comprehending at first. Hadn’t those been for his birthday, too? Then he recalled Road’s comment from the other day about her dad and Grandma Kat. “There’s more?!” He had a small sense of déjà vu with that question.

“Duh. After cake.” Tyki seemed to be enjoying Allen’s astonishment as much as Mana had that morning.

There were two cakes, one decorated with a playing card motif and the other with a slightly lopsided frosted Pikachu drawn by Mana. Heat creeped into Allen’s face as they sang happy birthday, while Tyki basked in the attention with a smug grin.

“Make a wish,” Mana prompted when the song ended.

Allen thought for a moment, then blew out the candles. The wish he’d thought of was a big one, maybe too big for a birthday cake if birthday wishes really were granted. It wasn’t particularly well-defined either. He simply wanted what he had now. This family, the happiness that came with it. He wanted to keep that feeling close.

The thoughts must have crossed his face while the adults busied themselves with cutting cake and scooping ice cream because Tyki made to ruffle Allen’s hair like he’d seen Mana do the other day. His hand landed a bit heavy, though, and instead of just ruffling, he pushed Allen so he swayed side to side. Actually, judging by the teasing grin Allen received when he swatted Tyki’s hand away, he probably meant to do exactly that.

Once everyone had eaten their slice of cake—two in the cases of Allen and Road—they adjourned to the living room for the gift exchange Tyki had predicted.

As promised, their birthday presents were wrapped in distinctly non-Christmasy paper and contained non-Christmasy items. For Allen, a remote-controlled car, a few classic toys like old school Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, and a nerf gun he couldn’t wait to test on Yuu (who had his own; this would be a fair fight). For Tyki, a couple video games. Allen thanked them, grinning ear to ear.

He, Tyki, and Road played with his new toys while the adults did their own thing until dinner. As they ate, Allen could say without a doubt that this was the best Christmas he’d ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Christmas in April because why not? :)


	9. Meaningless Conversation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one takes place after the events of Familiar Faces. All you really have to know for it if you want to skip the other fic is that this version of Allen swapped bodies with D.Gray-Man's Allen. Yuu did as well with DGM's Kanda, though briefly.

Reminders of that other world were _everywhere_ , Allen thought as he sat with Lenalee in the newly opened local bakery and café. The man behind the counter was definitely Howard Link, though his blond hair was cut shorter and tied back in a short ponytail rather than the long braid his twin had. His voice was the same, his eyes were the same, but his expression, warm and inviting, was a far cry from the tight closed-off frown the other wore. It had thrown Allen for a loop when they came in.

This was just the latest in a string of familiar faces over the months since Allen's swapping places, and Lenalee peppered him with questions. Some he could answer, some he couldn’t.

“So he was some kind of magical agent?”

“Yeah. He had these talisman things that could bind Innocence or burst into flames and stuff.”

Lenalee stirred her iced latte. “Innocence was that magic weapon thing, right?”

Allen nodded before taking a bite of his scone. They didn’t try to hide their conversation. Anyone listening in would just assume they were talking about some book or TV show.

Lenalee sipped her drink. “Did Inspector Link have Innocence?”

“I don’t think so. Just the talisman stuff.” If he’d had Innocence, then he’d have used it in that last fight.

“He threatened you, didn’t he?”

“He thought I was the Fourteenth when I showed up.”

“Fourteenth what?”

“Wish I knew.”

Allen’s phone dinged, and he glanced at it. Yuu sent a picture? That was rare. “Hang on, Yuu must be having a crisis,” he joked as he opened the image.

“What, his roomie’s sheets don’t match his décor?” Lenalee joked back, though she tilted her head in mild confusion at Allen’s expression. “What’s up?”

“Holy cow, he’s rooming with Lavi.”

“Who?”

Allen showed her the picture of a grinning redhaired teen with brilliant green eyes. Two of them this time. “Other world. He’s the guy with the eyepatch I told you about.”

Lenalee took the phone and zoomed in. “Damn, is being hot a requirement for joining that Order?”

The phone dinged again, and Allen took it back to read what Yuu sent.

_This is that guy right_

Allen texted back quickly.

_That’s him_

_Ask if he’s on Reddit_

_Why_

_Curiosity. Other guy was nicknamed Bookman Junior. I’ve seen that on Reddit._

_Will ask later. Told him he looked like someone we saw at last tournament_

_Don’t want him thinking I’m stalking him_

_You should ask him out_

_Hell no!_

_I don’t date losers_

_You called Alma a loser yet you dated him 6 months and took him to prom_

Lenalee cocked her head in amusement. “Are you teasing him again?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“If you grinned any harder, your face would freeze that way.” She plucked the phone from his hand and read over the conversation. “You’re right though. He should ask him out. They’d be cute together.” Handing back the phone, she asked, “Were they together in the other world?”

“I don’t think so? That Kanda looked like he wanted to murder everyone. Especially Lavi and me.”

“Maybe that Kanda shows affection with murder?”

“I think his default mode was kill all humans.”

“So just like our Yuu-chan in elementary school.”

“Pretty much.”

They chuckled at the memory. Yuu had always been the prickly type, though his edges had softened over the years. The combined efforts of Alma and his dad had done wonders.

“It’s gonna be weird with both Yuu and Alma away at school,” Lenalee commented after a while. “Think they’ll miss us?”

“Yeah. Yuu won’t admit it though.”

“Five bucks says he calls one of us tonight saying Roomie’s driving him crazy.”

“If this Lavi’s anything like the one I met before? That’s a safe bet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my head cannon, Kanda is bi until stated otherwise in the manga. :)


	10. Little Clown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Felt the need to write something cute, so here's something cute with little Allen. :)

A package sat ignored on the table when Allen came home from school. Or maybe not, considering how Mana, easy to read as ever, kept glancing over at Allen and the padded envelope. He was obviously waiting for Allen to ask about it.

“What’s that?” Allen asked, mustering curiosity from somewhere as he dumped his bookbag against the wall. He had homework, but he could do it after dinner.

Mana feigned disinterest rather poorly. “I’m not sure. Maybe you should open it?”

Allen rolled his eyes. He hated surprises, but he hated disappointing Mana more. At least he was a better actor than Mana (no matter what Yuu said). He could pretend to be happy with whatever it was.

The envelope was a pain to open, but he managed to get the flap to unstick. Inside was a slim volume, the spine proclaiming, _“Timcanpy and the Little Clown.”_ So Mana had written another book? That explained the excitement, he thought as he slipped the picture book from the sleeve. But why was he so determined for Allen to be the one to…

On the cover was a lovingly illustrated version of Allen being nudged along by Timcanpy after his clown. His face was painted similarly to how Mana always wore his face as Timcanpy’s Clown and he wore a colorful patchwork coat, but the Little Clown was most certainly meant to be a caricature of Allen himself.

He stared at that cover, shaking and overwhelmed by something he stubbornly tried to push away. Mana watched him struggle against his emotions a few moments before reaching out and pulling Allen into a hug. The dam broke, and Allen began to cry as he clung back.

“Stupid clown,” Allen blubbered into Mana’s shoulder.

Mana gave a light squeeze. “I’m sorry. I forgot you don’t like surprises. Was this a good one, at least?”

“Big dummy.” But he didn’t sound angry.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” To which Allen nodded. Mana chuckled softly. “Do you like it?”

As usual, when he wasn’t sure what he should be feeling, Allen went with grumpy and contrary even as he scrubbed at his eyes and sniffled. “Ya coulda made me a cool clown.”

Mana made a thoughtful noise, then said, “Nope. You’re too cute. Even if I tried to draw a cool Little Clown, he’d still be cute.”

“I’m not cute,” he protested, face heating up.

“You’re right,” Mana replied. “You’re adorable.”

Allen pulled out of his arms with a disgruntled huff. “Dummy,” he groused as he headed for his room. It didn’t escape Mana’s notice that he still had the book in hand. He’d have to ask Allen’s opinion later.


	11. Allen's First Convention

When Mana asked him if he wanted to go to a sci-fi convention, Allen thought he was joking around. An event where kids and adults alike dressed up in costume without Halloween as an excuse to celebrate their shared loves of books, movies, and the like sounded too farfetched, even for Mana, and so Allen had decided to call his bluff. He agreed to go and then quickly put it out of his mind. At the time, he hadn’t been there long enough to know that Mana, silly as he could be sometimes, didn’t make promises he didn’t fully intend to keep.

Which was why a few months later he was a little confused when he found Mana packing a suitcase with weird clothes laid out on the bed. Included among them was Mana’s clown costume as well as a tall top hat with a dragon sleeping along the brim. “What’re you doing?”

“Packing for the convention.”

“The what?”

Mana tilted his head, then a big smile lit up his face. “Did you forget? The science fiction convention is this weekend!”

Allen flushed. “I didn’t forget!” Even though he absolutely had. He glanced over Mana’s things again. “Why’re you bringing all that Timcanpy stuff?”

“I’m invited as an author every year,” Mana replied.

So it would be a bit like the fair over the summer. “Then what’s the hat for?”

“I won’t be Timcanpy’s Clown the whole time.” Carefully, Mana placed the hat in an appropriately sized hat box. “Your uncle and I have fun with steampunk when I’m not in makeup.”

“What’s steampunk?”

“The way we do it, it’s Victorian dress with cogs and gears and things like that. Well, the way Nea does it. I usually just trim a hat for the occasion and leave it at that.” He folded up his clown outfit. “Now how about you start packing, and I come help you once I finish in here?”

* * *

Because Mana had already gone on ahead that morning, Nea was the one who picked Allen up from school that Friday afternoon. They headed out straight from there, but it still took the better part of an hour to arrive at the hotel where the convention was taking place. The parking lot was packed with cars, and the hotel lobby with people checking in.

Nea led the way through the throng toward the more sparsely populated hallway while Allen stared around in wonder. Not everyone was in costume, but those that were had gone above and beyond what he’d been expecting. There was one person dressed so convincingly as Gandolf that Allen almost thought it was the real actor hiding in plain sight until he heard him speak in a distinctly not-Gandolf voice.

There were also more kids than Allen had anticipated. Sure, he’d figured there’d be at least a few if Mana was here as Timcanpy’s Clown, but not nearly so many looking like they were having a great time.

After waiting in line far longer than Allen’s attention span could take, Nea put a cheap beaded necklace around his neck that had a square of laminated paper attached to the end with Allen’s name on it. “Don’t lose that,” he instructed. “That lets you get to do all the fun con stuff.”

Allen inspected the badge. There was a dragon on it chewing on the letters making up the name of the convention. Below his name was script that read, _“Here, there be dragons.”_ The beads fit with that dragon theme as well, each one being little jewel shapes.

“I thought this was a sci-fi convention,” Allen mumbled.

“Fantasy is like sci-fi’s sibling,” Nea replied as they made their way out of registration. “The two go hand-in-hand.”

They paused to let a gaggle of kids in Harry Potter costumes pass, then headed into a room with lots of tables and people sitting around talking animatedly. A long row of tables was lined up and piled high with snacks, which Nea helped himself and Allen to before finding a place to sit.

“We’ll hang out here while we wait for your dad,” he told Allen, “and come up with a game plan.”

Allen snagged a cheese cube from Nea’s plate and asked, “Game plan?”

“There’s a lot to do at these conventions,” he said, showing Allen the schedule. “If you see something you want to check out, let me know and we’ll go.”

It was a dizzying assortment, to be sure, color-coded for the type of activity and labeled with a number for age appropriateness. Music, crafts, performances, discussions… Allen was feeling overwhelmed already, and they hadn’t even done anything yet!

Seeing this, Nea took back the schedule. “Let’s focus on tonight first.” He looked it over and circled one of the music performances that started in a few hours. “You’ll like them. They’re a string quartet that does movie scores.”

Allen took his word for it and scanned that evening’s activities. One caught his eye. _Dragon eggs?_ “What’s that one?”

“Looks like a craft. Want to make a dragon egg?” Allen nodded eagerly. Nea circled it on the schedule and made a mental note that it was in an hour. Hopefully, Mana would be back by then so Nea himself wouldn't have to sit through that.

A stilted robotic shout—or a human imitating one, anyway—drew Allen's attention and made him jump. “Remove Timcanpy from my dome! So I may exterminate you!” He turned toward the lighthearted laughter that followed.

Whelp, he'd found Mana. He was dressed as Timcanpy’s Clown and smiling brightly as he teased a large green-and-purple contraption by having placed a giant stuffed Timcanpy on what Allen assumed was its head. The plunger the fake robot had as an arm moved up and down, and it scooted back and forth in a futile attempt to rid himself of the golem.

Mana the clown tapped his chin thoughtfully, then shook his head. More giggles from the couple of kids watching what had to be an act they’d planned ahead of time. “Fine!” whoever was inside the robot shouted, still in the robotic voice. “If you remove the Timcanpy, you will be exterminated…! Gently.”

For a moment, Mana acted like he considered this offer, then reached out for Timcanpy. Instead of removing the stuffed golem, however, he moved it around like Timcanpy was alive. Mana cocked his head like he was listening to the golem, then mimed something in returned. He made Tim move its whole body in a nod, then made it take off. He bobbed it up and down so the wings flapped, then had Tim nuzzle up against the robot.

“What are you doing?!”

More laughter from the kids. One cried, “Timcanpy likes you!”

“Is this true?!” Mana took back Timcanpy, and both he and the plush toy gave exaggerated nods. “It cannot be!” Another nod from both Timcanpy and his Clown. The robot turned its body from the clown to their little audience and back. “ _Fine_. You will not be exterminated! For now…” The kids cheered as Timcanpy ‘flew’ back to perch on the robot’s head.

Allen heard Nea chuckle. “They do something like that every year,” he said. “That’s their Timcanpy.”

“What’s that robot thing?”

“It’s a Dalek. I think his name is Skarino?” Nea shrugged and stood. He called over to Mana and the Dalek known as Skarino, “Mind if I get a picture with you two?”

Mana nodded enthusiastically while the wooden robot heaved a tortured sigh. “ _Fine_. Just get my superior side! Which is all of them!”

Allen should’ve seen it coming when Nea posed him in front of the pair for the photo. Mana was positively beaming, which made him smile too in spite of himself. Later, Mana would gush over the picture to Allen’s embarrassment, but for now, he would enjoy the attention.

Eventually, Timcanpy’s Clown waved goodbye to the different kids in the “Con Suite” as Nea called their current location, and not too long later, Mana reappeared, clown costume replaced with a yellow-tan suit and the silly top hat Allen had seen him pack the other day.

“Hope you two weren’t waiting long,” he said, tipping the hat to them both.

“Nope. You’re just in time to take Allen to make a dragon egg,” Nea replied, indicating the listing on the schedule. “You want the usual?”

“Yes please,” replied Mana in a happy sing-songy voice. “Ah, wait, does Allen—”

“He said he liked Tikka Masala.” Nea tossed his schedule back in the bag the convention had given them. “You two have fun with your crafts while I make the food run.”

Mana waved as he left, then commented to Allen, “I didn’t know you liked Indian food,” as they headed off to the craft. That didn’t surprise him, though. With the exception of the sushi at Christmas, Allen was game to eat just about anything and generally wasn’t a picky eater.

They reached the “kids’ room” as the sign declared it and found tables piled high with all the supplies necessary to turn a plastic Easter egg into one fit for a dragon. Many of the children from earlier were there as well, already elbow deep in their crafts.

“Better late than never, Earl,” one of the adults called from where they were helping a smaller kid with a glue gun.

“Earl?” Allen repeated as they sat down. That’s when he noticed that Mana’s badge didn’t say “Mana” but instead “The Millennium Earl.”

Mana picked out a shiny green egg and a matching dragon. “It’s a nickname I go by for conventions,” he explained. Allen assumed it was so the more perceptive kids wouldn’t make the connection between Mana Walker the author and Mana Campbell the regular attendee.

He chose a blue egg and a black dragon for himself. “But why the Millennium Earl?”

“Because I thought it sounded cool.”

“How come you get to be cool and I have to be cute?” That only earned him a chuckle from his father.

Allen quickly found out why the volunteers in the kids’ room were so familiar with Mana. The man flitted around the room, helping those younger than Allen with the scissors and glue guns. That was fine with Allen though; he didn’t need much assistance as he swirled on some shiny gold and silver paint. Only when he began applying the little jewel-like beads with the hot glue gun did Mana start to hover.

“Work on your own stupid egg,” Allen mumbled in mild irritation. As it was, Mana’s egg had hardly anything on it, and what was stuck on was messy. He might be a clown and an artist, but apparently, crafts were his weakness.

Mana sat back at his spot. “All right, all right. Just let me know if you need help.”

If anyone needed the help, it was Mana, but hey, as long as they were having fun, that’s what mattered.

* * *

It turned out, there was never a dull moment at a sci-fi convention. Something was going on at all hours, and between Mana and Nea, Allen got to experience all of the insanity firsthand, including things he wouldn’t have chosen to go to himself. Nea liked going to the various musical performances, so Allen got to hear everything from movie scores he recognized on harps to folk music he didn’t. Mana, meanwhile, liked the interactive things when he wasn’t playing the clown: crafts (even though with the exception of knitting he failed spectacularly at them), the board game room, and the local improv group’s games.

The two could not stop laughing at that particular group’s antics. Mana even joined in a few times, though Allen hung back and watched, not entirely sure what to make of the very well dressed “Millennium Earl” pretending to be a cat when a scene shifted unexpectedly with a new participant. It looked like fun, but he couldn’t muster up the courage to make a fool of himself like his father. However, when prompts were asked for, by the end he was among those calling out suggestions.

As Saturday wore on, Mana eventually had to leave Allen and his uncle to change back into his clown costume. There was a lull in activities they wanted to do, so Nea showed Allen the vendor’s hall, a room packed full of people selling all kinds of nerdy loot. Allen stuck close to his uncle, careful not to touch _anything_ , lest he break it. Not that Nea was concerned.

They stopped at a table piled high with chocolate, and Allen's eyes widened at the selection. They were all in different sci-fi and fantasy shapes. A chocolate Dalek sat next to Han Solo in chocolate carbonite. Little chocolate dragons in different colors snoozed in packs of three next to candy bat signals. A bowl was heaped with individually wrapped chocolate and peanut butter covered Oreos, and that’s what had Allen’s full attention.

“I need four of those Oreos,” Nea was saying to the seller, “and one of the TARDISes.” Allen’s focus snapped up to his uncle. “What, did you want something too?”

Allen knew from his voice he was teasing. At least one of those Oreos definitely had his name on it, but if Nea was asking, he’d press his luck just a bit. “Can we get those, too?” He pointed at the sleeping dragons. There were three in the pack, one for each of them.

Nea chuckled. “Sure. The dragons too.”

The seller passed them a paper bag with their purchase, and as they walked away, Nea handed one of the Oreos to his nephew. Allen made a mental note to make sure to get another one next year.

* * *

Sunday was slower and quieter, with most of the adult convention goers tired from a night of partying. Sleepy-eyed Mana was probably the most awake of all the adults in the Con Suite currently partaking of breakfast while the kids watched the old cartoons the volunteers projected on a screen. Allen, too, wasn’t quite awake as he munched on his bowl of Cap’n Crunch. Why did mornings have to come so early?

Eventually, Nea joined them. He groaned and slumped in his chair, hiding his face in his arms, obviously hungover. Allen had seen this any number of times before, but this was new for Nea. He shifted away uncomfortably. The last time he’d dealt with someone hungover, said person had beaten the snot out of him for being too loud. He didn’t think Nea would, but then again, he’d never seen the man shitfaced before either.

Mana plunked a cup of coffee in front of his brother, who gratefully nursed it. “Do you have all your stuff packed up?” he asked.

“Yeah. Need help bringing it down?” Though he grimaced at the idea.

“I can handle it. Allen, can you keep an eye on your uncle for me?”

Nea groaned. “I’m not going to wander off like a little kid.”

“Someone needs to keep you out of trouble if Cross stops by,” Mana replied cheerfully.

Another groan. Nea checked his watch. “He won’t be up for another two hours at least.”

“So you say, but he has to check out just like the rest of us.” Mana patted his brother’s shoulder. “Would you like me to get you anything before I go?”

“More coffee?” he asked hopefully.

“Of course.” And once that request was fulfilled, Mana headed back up to their hotel room to collect their things.

Allen watched him go with a little trepidation. Nea seemed like his normal self, even if he was hungover, but it still made him nervous. He did his best to stay quiet as he finished his bowl of now-soggy cereal. Nea watched him a moment, then sighed and went back to nursing his coffee. He’d deal with Allen’s discomfort later once he felt human again.

As predicted, a certain redhaired individual did join the two during Mana’s absence. Unlike hungover Nea, he looked to be functioning just fine. There was a telltale smell of alcohol on him, and that made Allen scrunch up his nose at first until he recognized the man. How could he not? He’d only seen this cop every day he'd been in the hospital. Not a pleasant memory, to be sure.

The coffee was finally working its magic. Nea gave a tired half-wave. “I see you’re doing well this morning. What’s your secret?”

“Once you start, never stop,” Cross replied with a smirk. His eyes fell on Allen, and tipsy as he still was, recognition sparked somewhere in his brain. “Who’s this?”

“My nephew,” Nea replied, missing completely the way the two looked at each other. “Allen, this is Cross Marian. Cross, Allen.” He yawned and stood up. “I’m getting a bite to eat. You two want anything?”

Allen stood quickly. “I’ll go too.”

Finally Nea noticed something was up. “Sure.” He gave Cross a confused glance, but the man was unreadable as ever. He’d have to ask later when Mana took Allen home.

“Grab me a muffin or whatever,” Cross called as they walked away.

By the time they returned (Allen was seriously dragging his feet for some reason), Mana was there chatting with Cross. At their approach, Mana shifted his focus. “Was there anything you wanted to do today?” he asked his adopted son.

Allen shook his head. Mana quirked his in response. Normally, Allen was a little more talkative even in the mornings. “All right then. Ready to head home?” He nodded, and Mana caught the way he glanced to Cross. So that was the cause.

To Cross, Mana said, “It was good seeing you again. Don’t get my brother in too much trouble.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” the redhead replied.

As the pair started on their way home, Mana decided to tackle what he’d noticed. “Did Cross say something to you?”

Allen shook his head. He only spoke because Mana was driving and so staying completely silent wouldn’t work at the moment. “No.”

They drove on in silence for a bit, Mana waiting for Allen to say more, but when he didn’t, Mana explained, “Cross and Nea are old friends from college. They don’t see each other all that often, so they tend to get out of hand when they do.”

“He didn’t do nothing,” Allen mumbled. He figured Mana would keep talking or prying if he didn’t say something. “I just… met him before.”

Mana could tell by the way he said it that Allen wasn’t going to elaborate. Considering Cross was a police officer, it wasn’t difficult to figure out how he knew the man. Mana nodded understandingly and patted Allen’s head. “All right, I’ll stop talking.”

Though he said this, after another few minutes of silence, Mana asked, “Did you enjoy the convention?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to go again next year?”

Allen hummed to himself as he stared out the window at the passing scenery. “Yeah.”

“Would you like to dress up with us next year?”

This offer earned a suspicious look. “You’re not gonna make me cute, are you?”

Mana chuckled. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” The image in his head though, of Allen in a little waistcoat with a paperboy cap, was most certainly adorable.

“You’re thinking something weird again!” accused Allen petulantly.

His tone was far too bright for the hurt he feigned. “Not at all. Why ever would you think that?”

“’Cause you’re smiling!”

“I’m always smiling.”

“Yeah, but,” Allen struggled to describe what made this smile different than Mana’s usual one. Ultimately, he gave up and crossed his arms with a little aggravated huff. “Whatever. I wanna wear steampunk like Uncle Nea’s.” There was no way Mana could make that cute, he was sure. Next year, he’d find out he was wrong, but by then, he’d come to accept that Mana was right and he would be ‘cute’ no matter what he wore for the foreseeable future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have written much of this chapter to live vicariously through Allen and company because most of the conventions I go to have been canceled... If you like convention stories, let me know and I'll try to write more. :-)
> 
> Also, Dalek Skarino is a real Dalek and can be followed on twitter @DalekSkarino. Alternatively, you can follow his improv group, The Confused Greenies of Players Patchwork Theater Company, @PlayerPatchwork.


	12. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place shortly after the Familiar Faces story. If you want to skip that one, all you need to know is this Allen got the fun of seeing the souls inside the Akuma after switching bodies with canon's Allen.

Allen woke in a cold sweat, heart jackhammering in his chest and stomach contorting painfully. He could still hear them, still see them in the darkness, and he squeezed his eyes shut and tried desperately to ignore the visions he knew weren’t there.

Sleep eluded him, but he expected that at this point. Quietly, Allen slipped out of bed and tiptoed downstairs. Mana was probably awake at this point with that attuned sixth sense of his, but if he wasn’t, Allen didn’t want to bother him. He’d just make himself something warm to drink, maybe a snack if the nausea dissipated, then go back to bed. It was only two in the morning. He might get back to sleep. Maybe. Possibly. _Probably not._

He sighed as he put the kettle on and retrieved the chamomile-mint tea from the cabinet. Whether the “calming blend” worked as advertised or not, Mana had brewed it for him often enough that his response was practically Pavlovian at this point. Drink tea, calm down, get sleepy, go back to bed. Go through the motions, focus on the ritual, stay away from anything sharp. That last bit had been especially difficult since the nightmares started, and it was only getting more so with each night of disturbed sleep.

He didn’t need to turn to know Mana had come in. “Sorry I woke you.”

“I was still awake.” An obvious lie. Since middle school, Mana was usually out cold long before Allen even considered turning off his bedside lamp.

Allen took another mug from the cabinet and made tea for them both. This, too, was part of the ritual, to act like he didn’t expect his sleepless nights to wake his father and to repeat the steps that helped distract him. He brought the mugs of steeping tea to the table.

Mana hesitated before asking, “Did you have a nightmare?”

“Yeah.” There wasn’t any point in lying about it.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Allen frowned down at his mug. “Not really.” He fiddled with the string on his tea bag. “I probably should though.” The first step to fixing the problem was admitting you had one, after all.

Mana nodded and sipped at the still-brewing tea, waiting for Allen to continue. When he didn’t, “Should I set something up with Dr. Tiedoll?”

A hollow laugh. “Aren’t I getting a little old for his help?”

“He helps adults as well.”

“He’ll think I’ve gone mental.” Mana had met the other Allen and believed his story. Had seen the effects of the Akuma’s power firsthand. Tiedoll… hadn’t. Allen still wasn’t sure what Yuu had said to explain the gash on his forearm. If he’d said anything at all. Knowing Yuu, he’d probably kept quiet. There was no way Tiedoll would believe a word of it.

“You don’t have to tell him about that.”

“He’ll want to know why I’m having nightmares,” Allen shot back bitterly. There was comfort in this part of the routine as well, even if it was frustrating that he couldn’t get the help he knew he needed this time around.

They drank their tea in silence for a few minutes. The strong, familiar taste was soothing. Maybe that’s why Allen decided to talk. “Did that Allen tell you he’s cursed?”

“He mentioned it but didn’t tell me much about it.”

Allen sighed. “He can see the souls trapped inside those Akuma things. When I was there, I could too.” The mug shook a little in his hands, and he set it down before he spilled anything. “It was… It was bad. Like, really bad. Hell on earth bad. They… I keep seeing them. Like they’re haunting me.”

“Are they?”

“Not in a literal sense. I don’t think.” He grimaced. “I thought my nightmares when I was a kid were bad, but they have nothing on this. I don’t know how the other Allen was so _normal_.” According to Lenalee and Yuu, he’d been able to stay under the radar until his curse gave him away.

“He was better at hiding it,” Mana replied quietly, “but I could see he was hurting, too. He had a lot of the same tells you do.”

Allen blanched. “Tells? What tells?”

“I’m not saying.”

“No fair, Dad! What tells?”

Mana finished his tea and glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. “We should probably get back to bed.”

“Don’t change the subject,” Allen whined, but seeing the time, he had to give in. He wasn’t sure if he could get back to sleep or not, but he still had to try. His nightmare-induced sleep deprivation had made him miss enough school already.

Back in his room, he held Timcanpy close and softly hummed Katerina’s lullaby to himself as he’d done when he was younger. Slowly, the tension left him, and he was able to drift off into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Why can't I just let this Allen be happy? T.T Brain, why do you do this to me?
> 
> I swear, I'll try to think of a happier chapter next time without angst for poor Allen.


	13. Sleepover

“A sleepover?” Allen repeated into the phone.

“Yup! I’m having a sleepover!” He could practically hear Alma’s big goofy grin. “Yuu and Lenalee are coming too, so you gotta come!”

What the heck did one even do at a sleepover? “Let me ask Dad.” He glanced over at the man in question. “Alma’s having a sleepover this weekend. Can I go?” _Please say no, please say no—_

“I don’t see why not.” A word went through Allen’s brain that Mana would never in a million years approve of, and it must have shown on his face. “Did you not want to go?”

Mortified at being caught, Allen said into the phone, “He said I can come.”

And that’s how Allen ended up at Alma’s house for the first time for his first ever sleepover. Alma was energetic as ever, grabbing Allen’s hand and saying, “We’re gonna be down in the basement! It’s super cool. You’ll love it!”

Allen glanced back at Mana, but his father was already talking with Alma’s dad, a blond man who looked far more like Bak than the dark-haired boy currently dragging him away from the kitchen. He hoped Mana wouldn’t embarrass him while talking with his friend’s dad. It was bad enough that Tiedoll knew too much, even though he knew for a fact the psychologist wouldn't share that information.

Down in the basement, Lenalee and Yuu had already set up their sleeping bags. “You made it!” Lenalee hopped up and gave Allen a bear hug. Yuu just rolled his eyes and went back to munching on the weird-looking cracker-cookie things sitting on the coffee table.

“So what should we do first?” Alma asked. He was practically vibrating from the excitement. Then without waiting for an answer, suggested, “DDR?”

Allen plopped down on the rug next to Yuu and the snacks and helped himself to one of the cookie-cracker things. “What’s DDR?” The snack was definitely a cracker, something light and sweet and salty. He helped himself to another.

“It stands for Dumb Dance Rejects,” explained Yuu with a smirk.

As always, Alma fell for it hook, line, and sinker. “No it doesn’t!” he whined as he tackled Yuu. Or tried to. Yuu was ready and caught him to prevent any damage to either of their persons and the furniture. “It’s Dance Dance Revolution!”

“It’s a video game,” Lenalee clarified for Allen’s benefit as the other two fought like always. “You hit the buttons on the mat when the arrows reach the top of the screen for points, and it looks like you’re dancing when you do.”

Once the game started, Allen saw what she meant. Lenalee started up a two-player game and Alma was off Yuu in an instant. Pretty soon, the two were jumping and tapping buttons so quickly that Allen could barely keep up. The announcer’s voice cheered them on and when they finished the set and got their scores, cried “buckets of tears” for them and their AA-grade.

“Wanna give it a try?” Lenalee asked Allen, stepping aside for him.

He hesitated a moment, then took her spot. She tapped the up-arrow twice, setting it to an easier difficulty, then stood back and let Alma excitedly jabber while he picked a song.

“Yuu doesn’t like this game,” he was saying as he flipped through the options to find one he thought Allen could do. He added in a conspiratorial whisper, “He’s not very good.”

This time, Yuu took the bait. “I don’t try ‘cause it’s a dumb game!” he snapped.

Alma stuck his tongue out at his friend and picked an upbeat song.

The first round was harder than Allen expected, even after watching Lenalee and Alma, and he nearly tripped himself up despite the large gaps between the simplified directions. By the second song, he got the hang of it, even if he wasn’t as light on his feet as Alma. The final round saw his best score yet, and he was awarded a B for his effort.

“I knew you’d be good at this!” Alma cried as he flung his arms around Allen in his enthusiasm. “Wanna play again?”

“In a bit.” He was a bit winded even with the easier difficulty level, but he was still grinning.

As the evening wore on, they shifted from DDR after a few more rounds to other games that Yuu was willing to participate in. After a few board games, Alma’s mom poked her head down and told them to go to sleep.

“But it’s so early,” Alma complained.

“It’s almost eleven o’clock!” Dr. Chang shot back. “You all should be asleep already.”

“But it’s a sleepover! Nobody ever sleeps at a sleepover!”

Lenalee yawned. “I’m kinda sleepy, Alma. Let’s go to bed.” Whether she actually was or not, Allen didn’t know, but he was glad she’d said something. He knew he was tired but hadn’t wanted to say anything for fear of breaking up the party too soon.

Alma looked to Yuu for backup, but the other ten-year-old already had his toothbrush in hand and was heading for the bathroom. Focus shifting to Allen, he had to admit defeat. Lenalee’s yawn was contagious and now the youngest member of the group couldn’t stop either.

That didn’t stop him from trying, though. Once they were all in their sleeping bags on the floor and the lights were out, he piped up, “Hey Allen, what’s your mom like? I don’t think we’ve ever seen her.” The question must have been on his mind since his mother’s scolding.

It had been a while since Allen had thought about his mom. Or his real dad, for that matter. Not since he’d gone into foster care. He still didn’t quite understand why they had given him up—wasn’t sure he ever would—but he knew he was better off with Mana. Things had been rough and scary after they moved, and he couldn’t say he missed them. But with Alma looking so eager in the dim light from the top of the basement stairs, he knew he had to say something.

So he lied. “Don’t really remember.” Then he rolled over to end the conversation.

Alma’s eyes went wide. Yuu’s did too, before narrowing appraisingly. Not getting the hint, Alma was about to ask something more, but Yuu interrupted him, grousing, “Go to sleep, weirdo.”

“Meanie.” Alma stuck his tongue out at Yuu, then settled in with his stuffed polka-dotted elephant. It was quiet a few minutes before he asked hesitantly, “Are you like Yuu?”

Allen turned his head, not quite comprehending the question. Like Yuu? What was that supposed to mean?

When he didn’t get an answer, Alma added, “Are you adopted?”

Yuu threw open his sleeping bag and moved to punch Alma, but stopped when Allen said, “Yeah.”

He stared at their friend, then glowered at Alma. “You don’t ask stuff like that,” he growled. He opted for a light fist to Alma's forehead instead of the harsher treatment he'd originally planned.

“I don’t mind,” Allen piped up, having rolled onto his belly so he could face them.

Once again, Yuu sent a glare Alma’s way, then slipped back into his sleeping bag with an irritated grunt. “Whatever. Just shut up and go to sleep.”

Despite his edict, it was Yuu who spoke again after it was clear both Lenalee and Alma were out cold and he and Allen were the only two still awake. “You don’t have to answer Alma if you don’t want to. Just tell him to buzz off.”

“I know.”

Yuu peered through the darkness—the light upstairs had finally been extinguished—to frown at Allen. It was obvious he wanted to ask a question as well. Or maybe he wanted to say something about his own predicament. It was hard to tell with Yuu sometimes.

He took a guess and broached the topic himself. “I didn’t know you were adopted,” Allen said at length.

“Yeah.”

“How come your last name’s still Kanda?”

“’Cause I didn’t want to change it. Yuu Tiedoll sounds dumb.” He rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. “How come you changed yours?”

A shrug. “Allen Fletcher sounded dumb.” That wasn’t really the reason, but Allen wasn’t sure how to explain how he felt about the matter. It just felt better, being _Campbell_. Felt right, somehow. Like he and Mana really were family. Which they were, even if it wasn’t in the same way Alma was part of his family or Lenalee hers.

“Fletcher’s not that bad,” Yuu commented before letting out a big yawn. “Tiedoll’s way dumber.”

They stayed silent a little while. Allen was just about to ask Yuu something else, but when he looked over, he found his friend had nodded off during the lull in conversation. He’d just have to ask in the morning, he thought, eyelids drooping. If he remembered, which he probably wouldn’t. It wasn’t that important anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because all the best conversations at sleepovers happen after lights out and you're supposed to be asleep.
> 
> Hope you're all doing well out there and staying safe!


	14. The Campbell Manor

If there was one thing Allen was certain of, it was that he hated flying. Airplanes, airports… everything about the experience was a nightmare he never wanted to experience again. The problem was, he knew he’d have to face it all over again in a month for the return trip. Maybe if he begged, he could stay with Grandma Kat here in jolly old England.

After the flight came a long car ride through the countryside, which Allen tolerated better. One of his aunts—not Tyki and Sheril’s mother—was driving while talking animatedly with Mana. Nea was zonked in the backseat with Allen who wished he could be napping himself. The flight left him exhausted, but being here, in the place he used to live, he _needed_ to see if there was anything he remembered and what had changed. It had been a few years and what he did remember was hazy, but surely he'd recognize _something._

Eventually they passed through a picturesque town that Allen recognized, and he pressed his face against the window. There was the clocktower. The old castle in the distance. The park with all its statues.

And just as quickly, it was gone. His old hometown. To think he was seeing it again now. Allen settled back in his seat.

“Something interesting out there, kiddo?” Nea asked with a yawn.

“Not really.”

“That was a lot of fidgeting for ‘not really,’” his aunt said from the driver’s seat. “Did you see the castle?”

“Yup.”

“Tyki can take you and the twins over there later. He knows so much about it.”

Oh, that’s right. She was the twins’ mom. Allen had heard about her and her kids Jasdero and Devit from Mana. They all lived in the US too, but clear across the country, so he would see them about as often as he did the Kamelots and Tyki. They were closer to him in age, about the same as Yuu and Alma, so Mana thought they’d get along fairly well.

It wasn’t long after that when they reached their destination: a large old manor house in a field of wheat. A single white gnarled tree sat smack in the middle of the field and sitting in its branches was a familiar little girl waving excitedly at their car.

“Looks like Tricia beat us,” Nea observed. “It’s a shame Sheril couldn’t make it out this year.” Both Allen and Mana knew that was a lie, but his sister didn’t need to know that.

She wasn’t fooled, however. “Nea, don’t you ever play poker.”

He gave her a wounded look. “Why Clara, how could you be so cruel? I happen to be excellent at poker and learned from the best.” No one believed him.

No sooner had the car been parked and Allen climbed out did Road fling herself at Allen. They overbalanced, and down they went. Before she could force too much affection on him, Tyki was there to pull the little girl off her favorite cousin.

“Had a good trip?” he asked, offering the kid a hand.

Not in the least bit amused, Allen replied sourly, “Ha ha, very funny.” Still, he accepted the help getting up.

“How about you two show Allen around?” Mana suggested as he, Nea, and Clara handled their bags.

“Okay!” Road wrestled out of Tyki’s arms and took Allen’s hand. “Come on! There’s lots and lots to see!”

And “lots” there was. Inside, much of the old mansion was a literal museum. Rooms were set up as they would have been circa the late 1800s, and glass cases filled with everything from books to teacups lined the walls. Mannequins displayed turn of the century clothing, both recreations and antiques. As they passed through, Tyki gave the highlights for their tour with Road chiming in every now and again for her personal favorites.

There was still more left unseen even after a half-hour, but Tyki decided it was time to call it quits and grab a bite to eat. He led the pair out of the museum wing of the house and into the one Grandma Kat called home. This part was still filled with old-fashioned furniture, but it was homey and lived in unlike the other.

The adults had gathered in a parlor with afternoon tea set up on the little coffee table. The twins Allen had heard so much about were nowhere to be found. “Probably off causing trouble somewhere,” their unconcerned mother commented when Tyki asked about them.

“Then they’ll come out sooner or later,” Grandma Kat said cheerfully. Then, in a conspiratorial way, she whispered to Road and Allen, “Or you could make a game of finding them. Winner gets a slice of pie?”

Road perked up at the promise of a prize while Allen saw it for the manipulation it was. He didn’t get much choice in the matter, though, as Road snagged a couple scones and then dragged him along behind her in the one-sided game of hide-and-seek. At least Allen was able to cram a little roast beef sandwich in his mouth before they got too far from the tiered serving plates.

“You know there’s no point looking together,” Allen pointed out as they went up the stairs. There’d be no winners if they both found the twins.

But Road replied brightly, “I’ll grab Devit and you grab Jasdero and we’ll both get pie.”

“But then who wins?”

“We both do!” She then added, as if reading Allen’s mind, “Tyki gets to be the loser ‘cause he’s not playing.”

With logic like that, there was no arguing. Besides, this was Grandma Kat. There was no way she wouldn’t give them both a treat, even if the twins were never found.

Road stopped at one of the bedrooms lining the hall and signaled for Allen to stay quiet. She pressed her ear against the door, then gestured for Allen to follow suit. He rolled his eyes and did as instructed. Inside, he heard dramatic music and talking. Then a piercing shriek.

Allen flinched back, but Road opened the door. “What'cha watchin’?” she asked excitedly.

The pair didn’t look up from the laptop propped up on their pillow. “Nothin’ a kid would be interested in.”

Road leaned in to get a better look. “But it’s a cartoon,” Road said, sounding a little disappointed. At least, until there was fire once more on the screen and a girl talking about having died.

The other twin giggled. “It’s anime, not a cartoon.”

Not wanting to get left out, Allen too peered at the screen. “What’s the difference?” It was definitely a cartoon, but it didn’t look like any he’d seen on TV. More like Pokémon, but darker and a little scarier.

“Well, it’s a _Japanese_ cartoon,” the first twin explained, at last pausing the video on the computer.

“Which makes it better, hee!”

Allen frowned. “How come?”

The dark-haired twin said, “Better art, better stories. And it’s _totally_ for grownups.”

“So no kids allowed!” the blond finished for him.

Road pouted. “But it looks so cool! I wanna watch!”

“Nah, they’re right,” Tyki said, scooping Road up. “That one’s too scary for kids.”

“But I like scary!” complained Road. “Daddy lets me watch scary movies all the time!”

Tyki rolled his eyes. “Like what?”

“Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Tyki and the twins stared at Road, at a complete loss for words. Then Tyki muttered something under his breath that Allen knew had to be a swear word even if he didn’t speak Portuguese. He set his niece back down. “You two shouldn’t be watching that either.”

“Too late, hee.”

“We’ve already seen it.”

Their cousin slapped his forehead and sighed. He glanced down at Allen, who was still staring at the frozen image of a small child being dragged to hell. “Come on, let’s go back. Grandma Kat promised you two pie, didn’t she?”

Allen’s eyes at last left the screen. “But this looks cool,” he said. It also looked scary as hell, but he wasn’t about to be shown up by a kindergartener. If she could handle it, he could too.

Another sigh from Tyki. “Why do I gotta be the responsible one?” he mumbled to himself. “There’s stuff in there that Uncle Mana probably doesn’t want you watching yet.”

“Yeah, like swearing and violence,” Devit elaborated.

Jasdero added with a snicker, “Which is what makes it so cool!”

Oh, if that was all… “I can handle swearing. And Pokémon’s got fighting and stuff.”

“Can we watch it? Pretty please?” Road batted her eyelashes at her uncle.

There was a moment of consideration, then Tyki gave in. “ _Fine_. But just this episode.” He didn’t remember there being too much content Uncle Mana might object to in the Soul Piper episode. In fact, he was pretty sure he remembered this one being kind of sweet. Maybe not 100% kid-friendly, but they could probably handle it. If things got too dicey, he’d stop the show and blame the twins.

Devit cheered while Jasdero restarted the episode. “Yay! Let’s corrupt the youth!”

By the end of the episode, Allen was hooked. Despite Tyki’s ultimatum, one episode became two, with the twins starting the series over from the beginning. As they started in on the second episode, Nea found them all huddled around the computer.

Their uncle quirked an eyebrow at the show they were all watching. “I thought you were bringing them back for pie.”

“They wanted to stay and watch this,” Tyki said, gesturing to the computer screen.

At the sight of the centipede woman biting the schoolgirl’s side and drawing blood in the episode flashback, Nea glanced surreptitiously at Allen. The kid seemed unphased, but Mana would _not_ be pleased if the twins were planting nightmare fuel in his head. “They also want ice cream for breakfast. Doesn’t mean we hand them a spoon and let them have at it.”

“You try telling Road ‘no’ and see how that goes for you,” Tyki replied, letting a heavy hand fall on the girl in question’s head.

No more explanation was necessary. Road had both Tyki and Allen wrapped around her finger, the former so he didn’t have to deal with his brother’s daughter-complex and the latter because he refused to lose to a girl younger than him. The two kids would have been enough to wear Tyki down on their own. Add the twins to the equation, and there was no way for Tyki to win.

 _Don’t send a teen for an adult’s job_ , Nea thought, rolling his eyes. He closed the laptop, much to the children’s disappointment. “All right, you five. That’s enough television for one day. Go out and play.” He shooed them out ahead of him into the hall.

Once outside in the endless backyard, Allen asked, “So what’re we supposed to do now?”

Simultaneously, Devit and Jasdero’s faces broke into evil grins. “Hey Tyki-pon,” said Devit, “think Grandma Kat still has our water pistols from last year?”

Tyki’s lips twitched into an irritated smirk at the weird nickname. “I’ll get the key to the shed.”

Once the arsenal of water guns was raided, the real fun began. The battle was long and brutal, with casualties on all sides. By the end, all five were soaked through and laughing, even as Tyki took advantage of his superior strength to heft a bucket and fling the contents at the rest of them. They got their revenge, though, as the twins worked together to return the favor with a bucket of their own, leaving the teen spluttering and ready for revenge.

After an hour, Grandma Kat called to the drenched group to come inside for dinner. Tricia was there as well to insist they go change first. “No wet clothes on the furniture!” she called after them as they all barreled up the stairs.

Allen found his things already unpacked and placed in the chest of drawers when he entered the room Tyki pointed out to him. Timcanpy was sitting on his bed, grinning up a storm as ever. He’d have to hide it in the closet during the day, he decided as he peeled off his soaked clothes and changed into something dry. No way he’d let the twins know he still slept with a stuffed animal.

A knock sounded at the door. “Hang on!” Allen called, chucking the stuffed golem in the wardrobe before answering.

Tyki lifted a large paper shopping bag. “These’re for you.”

“Thanks?” He took the bag, which was heavier than it looked. His face fell when he saw the contents. Books. What, did Mana tell Tyki Allen had a book report to do over the summer and assumed he hadn’t done anything yet. That assumption would be correct, but he’d still have a few weeks before school started when he got back. Allen would figure something out…

His thoughts petered out as he saw what the books were. Pokémon. These were Pokémon books! He didn’t know they _made_ Pokémon books! Allen set the bag down and started digging through the comic books and chapter books, grinning up a storm.

“I found them while cleaning out the attic. They’re all yours if you want ‘em.”

This time, Allen’s thanks was 100% genuine as they headed to the dining room for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay Allen discovering anime. He is one step close to being the self-aware nerd he was in Familiar Faces :3 Just some sweet sweet fluff for you guys this time. No angst~
> 
> Question for you all: Would you guys like me to add chapter summaries to the different chapters? I haven't been doing that, but since these are all kinda one-shots, maybe that's a good idea?


	15. Musical Guest

Allen couldn’t believe his eyes. He read the message again. This had to be a joke. There was no way this was real. Someone had to be messing with him. But no, after a bit of googling and consulting the contact us page, this was indeed the official account.

He was being invited as a guest to –Con. They wanted Crown Clown to give a concert and were offering to give him a free pass to come as a panelist. Sure, it was a smaller convention and a badge only cost $10 for general admission, but it was the principal of the thing. He was officially internet famous. Well, a little bit. At least with one of the people running this convention.

The first hurdle was his father. Mana always encouraged his hobbies, both musical and nerdy. The question was, would he be willing to drive Allen three and a half hours so he could go to this convention?

He poked his head into the living room. Mana had an old movie on the television, but already his interest had shifted to the sketchpad in his lap. He’d been working for weeks on this latest project that Allen only caught brief glimpses of.

“Hey Dad?” The man startled. “I got invited to a convention as a musical guest. It’s a bit far away, but…”

The sketchpad snapped shut. “That’s wonderful! Where is it?”

“Er, well…” He showed Mana the convention’s webpage. “I know it’s a long drive and it’s just a two-day college convention, but—”

Rather than focus on the long drive, Mana commented, “Yuu’s school isn’t far from there. We should see if he’s free for dinner on our way back.”

It wasn’t a question of whether they went. It was a question of what they did on their way home. Allen found himself grinning. “Thanks, Dad.”

* * *

Allen adjusted his masquerade mask for what had to be the fiftieth time since they’d arrived at the convention. As he always did in his videos, Allen wore his Victorian long coat and a top hat borrowed from his father (this one bedecked with the little dragon from his childhood). Unlike his Youtube persona, however, he’d abandoned his vow of silence. It would be too difficult to interact with people, be they fans or not, without speaking. Now he appreciated why Mana kept his appearances as Timcanpy’s clown so short and structured.

He made the final adjustments to his electronic keyboard—there was no way Uncle Nea would lend him his piano for an anime convention, even if it _wasn’t_ impractical to transport—and got his sheet music in order. Lenalee had joined them and was setting up her phone to record the performance for posterity.

“Do you have everything you need?” asked a member of the staff and the college’s anime club, a girl who had introduced herself as Lo Fwa. She’d been the one to ask her merry band to invite Allen and had been the one he’d emailed back and forth with. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No, we should be good,” Allen replied with a smile. He called to Lenalee, “Can you hear the piano back there?” before pressing one of the keys. Lenalee gave him the thumbs up.

Lo Fwa hovered a few moments longer before checking her watch and exclaiming at the time. “If you’re ready, I should let everyone in!”

Allen nodded and sat before his piano to wait. As people filed in, he did his best to not look at them. The butterflies in his stomach felt more like fire-breathing dragons. Playing for a camera was one thing. Sitting before a crowd far larger than he expected was something else entirely.

Then a pair of familiar faces plopped themselves down front and center. And waved. Well, one of them did. Lavi, dressed as a generic pirate, was grinning like a lunatic and trying to get Allen’s attention while Yuu sat beside him in a suit, pinching the bridge of his nose and looking for all the world like he didn’t want to be here. Which he probably didn’t. Either his roommate had dragged him along, or Yuu had made a special trip to show support. Either way, Allen was happy to see them. It was just the distraction he needed.

 _You’ve gone to other worlds and faced some real ass holes,_ he reminded himself as he stood and accepted the microphone from Lo Fwa. _You can handle talking to a crowd that wants you here._

“How’s everyone enjoying the con?” he asked, sounding far more confident than he felt. The audience cheered. Good. At least he had a responsive group. It would make talking far less awkward than being greeted by silence.

He continued with his prepared speech, pausing in all the same places he'd practiced. Mana and Lenalee had been a big help on that front, offering advice and encouragement so he didn’t sound robotic or nervous. Nea, meanwhile, had assisted him in picking out the pieces he’d be playing to balance popularity with what made the most sense together.

There were cheers and squeals of delight when he announced his first song, a definite crowd pleaser: The Pokémon Theme. It had proven itself as one of his most popular videos online, and in person it was a fan favorite. He followed it up with a purely piano rendition of The Ancient Magus’ Bride’s ‘Here’ (he hadn’t been able to talk Lenalee into bringing her violin), then a medley of Angel Beats’ music. A few more songs, more clapping from an audience that was almost too enthusiastic, and then he finished up on a high note with the classic ‘Cruel Angel’s Thesis,’ a piece he had recorded and safely saved on his computer to be posted next week. It was a treat he’d decided to share with the people who had come out today, much to their delight.

Allen took a bow and received roaring applause. He did his best to hide how badly he was shaking from the pure adrenaline running through his system as he thanked everyone once again for coming and how he hoped he could do this again at this and other conventions in the future.

Most of the congoers left to go to their next panel or check out the little dealer’s room, but a few loitered, hoping to ask Allen this or that. A few wanted autographs on their badges as souvenirs, and Allen was glad Mana had thought ahead and tucked a little gold sharpie in his coat pocket before dropping him off. One college student even asked for his number, and thankfully Lenalee was there to inform her that sixteen-year-old Allen was underage and taken.

Slowly, the room emptied out, leaving Yuu, Lenalee, and Allen with an overly friendly Lavi.

“Nice to meet ya!” His face was split in a Cheshire Cat grin so much like the other world’s Lavi, Allen had to remind himself that this was not, in fact, the same person.

“Nice to meet you too,” Allen replied, shaking the hand he offered. Or he tried to, anyway. Lavi instead pulled him into one of those half hugs and gave him a good-natured thump on the back. “So, pirate costume?”

Lavi gave an easy-going shrug in response. “Yuu-chan said people dress up for these things. Figured a pirate wouldn’t stand out too much if he was makin’ stuff up. Ditch the eyepatch and _bam_ , instant hottie.” He threw an arm around Yuu’s shoulder. “And I made him dress up too so I wouldn’t be the only one.”

Ah, that explained the Secret Service-like getup Yuu had on. The ‘bodyguard’ in question rolled his eyes before consulting his phone. “Let’s grab something to eat. I don’t know about you three, but I’m starving.”

They ended up meeting with Mana at the campus pub, which Lavi informed them was well-known for their stuffed breadsticks. “No seriously, ya gotta try them,” he explained. “I’ve got friends who go here, and they say they’re to _die_ for.” It wasn’t a hard sell as all eyes fell on the platter delivered to the next table over.

All in all, Allen thought as Lavi dominated conversation over oozing cheesy goodness, a pretty good way to end a pretty good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, it's been too long guys. I was (gasp) actually working on original stuff for once and had this one on the back burner as I came up with new things for Allen and company to do. :)
> 
> I'm also considering writing up some additional/alternate scenes and such for Familiar Faces (because seriously, I could not for the life of me fit in a scene of Campbell reacting to Walker's hair and scar and I still want to). Maybe someday lol. But if I did do that, would you all prefer I throw those in their own one shot collection or keep all my random spin off chapters together in this one?
> 
> Hope you all are doing well out there!


	16. A Bookish Dilemma

Allen scowled at his latest assignment. Fourth grade had just started and _already_ they were giving out the most irritating assignment imaginable: 'Accelerated Reader.' Worse, the teacher thought it would actually be _fun_ if she made it like a game, and so on top of the requirement of getting so many points every month, the three people who had the highest total at the end of the year would get a pizza party all to themselves.

Which meant Lenalee and two of Allen's classmates would get the prize. He'd already given up considering the work involved.

Mana was trying to help, offering book recommendations for them to look up on the school's website, but they were coming up empty handed. Either the book skewed 'too young' and thus wouldn't give Allen the points he needed even if his teacher would let him use it, 'too old' and would go over Allen's head, or 'too boring' and Allen couldn't even pay attention long enough to hear Mana describe it.

After about the tenth rejection, Mana could see the frustration plain as day on Allen's face and suggested that they stop at the library that weekend. “They'll know _just_ the book for you,” he promised.

Allen glowered at the list. Mana was right, as usual. Between them being well acquainted with his dad and little Allen's constant searching in the teen section, the librarians had begun to recognize Allen on sight and point him to the latest in their manga collection. They'd even started buying the 'light novels' to get the ten-year-old to read something _other_ than comics.

Why couldn't _those_ be on the list? Then he could read whatever he wanted and still get the points! Heck, he might even beat Lenalee if he could use those!

* * *

By the time Saturday rolled around, Allen had already lost hope. The teacher had made a few suggestions herself, none of which interested Allen, and she had told him that if he didn't pick something by Monday, she would assign him one. That would be the worst possible solution.

Yuu was tagging along today. Dr. Tiedoll was away at a conference and didn't get home until late Friday, so Yuu had stayed a couple days with the Campbells. Once they were done at the library, they'd be dropping him off on the way home.

This meant, as the older student who had had to deal with the dreaded Accelerated Reader tests longer than Allen had, he could give better incite. Also, Allen looked up to him just a little and would be more likely to accept whatever Yuu suggested. At least, that's what Mana hoped when he turned the pair loose in the middle-grade section.

Allen griped at first, saying, “But I wanna see if they have any new manga!” but Mana had been firm about choosing an AR book before he could peruse for pleasure.

Yuu made this part quick at least, even if it wasn't painless. He rolled his eyes and scanned the shelf for the right book. Finding what he was looking for, he thrust the worn paperback into Allen's hands. “Here. Now stop complaining.”

The cover had a vicious wolf on it. Rather on brand for Yuu, Allen thought, flipping it over to read the summary on the back. “What's it about?”

“A wolf.”

“No duh!” With a title like _White Fang_ , of course it was about a wolf. “But what's it _about_.”

“A wolf surviving in Alaska. It's good. Just read it.”

Yuu didn't recommend things lightly. Lenalee would read everything and anything and want everyone else to as well. Same with Alma, and that extended to everything for him: food, movies, games. Yuu, though? He rarely talked about what he was reading or watching, so when he did and said it was “good,” Allen tended to listen.

Still, Allen wasn't so sure. This one looked kind of hard. The library had put little stickers on the spines of the AR books for “grade appropriateness”, and Allen was pretty sure the green ones meant fifth and sixth grade. Not that he couldn't read at that level, mind you; he was pretty sure the manga and light novels he read all the time were for older kids than that. It just meant that he'd be putting in more work than he wanted to into this stupid assignment.

He mulled it over, and the fact it was Yuu's recommendation won out. “Okay, but you gotta read something I like too.”

“I'm not reading one of your dumb manga. I hate comics.”

Allen grabbed Yuu's arm and started for the teen section. “I wasn't gonna make you read a comic.” That was a lie, but he didn't need to know that. Allen would just pick something else.

That _something else_ he decided on was _Kieli_. Yuu tended to like adventure stories and fighting and stuff, and while this one wasn't the most action packed, it did have an exciting climax and a daring rescue.

“Looks lame,” groused Yuu as he read the synopsis.

“It's good!”

“You always say this stuff's good.”

“Well, I mean it this time!”

Yuu just rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

“And you gotta read all of it,” Allen insisted as he pulled a few more manga from the shelf—rereads mostly, but they did have a new volume of _Pandora Hearts._

“No way! If it's dumb, I'm quitting.”

“I gotta read all of _White Fang_ for school, so you gotta read all of _Kieli._ It's not _that_ long.”

Yuu scowled at his friend, but no more complaints were made.

* * *

If one could devour a book, Allen did so with _White Fang_. Yuu had been right: it was good. No, better than good. He couldn't put it down. Even better, he aced the stupid test on the computer and was in the lead point-wise at the end of the month, putting him ahead of Lenalee for the first time ever with anything school-related. Take _that_ , teacher who said it was probably too hard for him and he should try something easier!

Allen was so happy with this little success that when he found out there was another book by the same author that also counted for AR, he started on it right away for October.

Meanwhile, Yuu worked his way through _Kieli._ As promised, he read the whole thing cover to cover, and when Allen asked how he liked it, just shrugged and said, “It was okay.” Not his thing, but not as terrible.

Yuu would never be the weeb Allen was on the fast track to becoming, but that didn't mean he wouldn't give Allen's favorite things the shot they deserved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's been so long since the last update. I've had a bit of writer's block with this one.
> 
> So if you have anything you'd like to see Allen and company do, let me know. Might give me that spark of inspiration to get you guys a new chapter. :)
> 
> By the way, are they still doing those annoying AR tests? I grew up with them and felt pretty much the same way as Allen does here lol
> 
> Edit: This is my first fic on Ao3 to hit 1000 hits! Thank you so much everyone :)


	17. Meeting for the First Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided it might be fun to retell part of the first chapter from Mana's perspective as well as add in some new stuff. Though I feel bad for being mean to Allen again. ^^;;;

It was a Tuesday like any other when Mana made himself up into a clown for his usual volunteer time at the hospital. They’d asked him years ago to come and cheer up the kids, and ever since Mana made a point of coming for an hour or so every week. His brother had cracked plenty of jokes when he’d started, things to the effect of “sick kids attracting clowns like ants to a picnic” and “don’t worry if they scream; they’re just scared of _IT_.” Mana had taken the teasing in stride, and though there were a few kids freaked out at the sight of a strange clown, most recognized him fairly quickly as Timcanpy’s Clown and enjoyed him being there.

Today was a different story. This time, there was a little boy who must have been through quite a bit, judging by the big blotchy bruises on his face and around his neck. And by the way he glared with open hostility at Mana, practically bristling like an angry housecat.

“The hell you want?”

Oh? And he was far from home if the accent was anything to go by. Mana tilted his head and tapped his chin. The boy sounded like he was from about the same area of Britain he and Nea grew up in, and he looked oddly familiar... Well, if that was the case, he should make something special.

Mana pulled a few yellow balloons from his pocket and blew them up. The boy watched him in mild confusion and interest when Mana began twisting them together. First the body, then the wings, then the tail. _Done._ He held the Balloon-canpy out proudly. It wasn’t often that he made his creation for people, even if he was Timcanpy’s Clown.

The boy just stared at him uncomprehendingly, like he didn’t know what to make of the clown or the kind gesture. Though he’d been doing this a long time and knew nothing about this child, Mana could feel his heart breaking for him. Whatever he’d been through, it must have hurt him more deeply than the bruises could tell.

After a moment’s deliberation, Mana gave the balloon animal a light toss. It floated through the air and landed in the child’s lap just as he’d intended. He earned a startled look and gave a little wink in return.

* * *

When Mana arrived home that evening, Nea was already there and had already helped himself to the dinner Mana had had going in the slow cooker. “Got your mail for you,” his brother said, sifting through the envelopes. “Mostly bills. Looks like you’ve got something official-looking though.”

His twin going through his mail wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. Nea, despite the way he pretended to be disinterested in everything, could be surprisingly nosy when it came to his brother’s business. “Oh?” Mana set his bag in the closet where he normally kept his clown things. He saw a message on the answering machine, but he'd check that later.

“I didn’t know you were looking into getting a foster kid.”

“I’m pretty sure I told you that months ago.”

“And I’m pretty sure I’d remember it if you had.” Nea turned the envelope this way and that. “Want me to open it?”

Mana chuckled as he grabbed himself a plate for his own dinner. “Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t already.”

“I’ll take that as a 'go right ahead.'” And without waiting for confirmation, Nea tore it open. He scanned through it, then passed it to Mana when he sat down. “Looks like they’re moving forward with you fostering. Congrats.”

Mana frowned at the news. Last he’d heard anything was a few months ago when things had fallen through. They’d listed him as a backup in case the family that took in Allen hadn’t worked out, but Mana hadn’t expected anything to come of that after a few weeks had gone by without word.

 _Wait… Allen?_ He’d seen that name recently, seen the face in the picture included in the packet of information. The papers slipped from his fingers.

Nea quirked an eyebrow. “What’s up? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

What was the likelihood of any of this? Mana didn’t know. “I saw this boy at the hospital today.”

“Huh?”

“He was pretty beat up.” Mana picked the papers back up and read through them again, more carefully this time. Most of it he remembered, but there was an addendum on the last page: _suspected abuse_.

He’d done his best to hide his reaction, but something must have shown on his face or in his shaking hands for Nea plucked the packet from him and took a closer look. “Yikes. Sure you can handle this one?”

Mana gave a weary smile. “I think I can manage.”

* * *

The distrust was palpable when Allen came. He stayed quiet and kept his distance. Loud noises, like when the wind caught the front door and slammed it harder than Mana intended, made him flinch. Even though he’d expected it going in, it still hurt Mana’s heart to see Allen so scared, and it doubled when the boy shunted most of those feelings into perpetual grumpiness.

Allen didn’t let himself get comfortable around Mana either, nor with Nea. He didn’t smile no matter what games or activities Mana brought out, and while he didn’t complain, he wouldn’t give Mana a hint on what he enjoyed doing either.

It didn’t help that the boy refused sleep too. Bedtime was the one thing Allen fought on, and Mana soon found that if there was one person more stubborn than his twin, Allen was it. After a few days, though, Mana was finding ways to manage. A hot bath with lots of bubbles (no matter how much he griped about them, Mana learned quickly Allen liked the bubbles) and a consistent routine seemed to do the trick, and slowly, he was getting better.

So far, all seemed to be working. Allen still had bags under his eyes, but at least he was starting to go to bed without putting up too much of a fight, and when Mana would poke his head in to check on him, the boy was asleep, if restless.

That all fell apart when a week later, Allen had a panic attack. Mana wasn’t sure what exactly triggered it, though he had a guess because when Allen discovered he was a clown, his eyes grew wide and his breath came in quick gasps. Mana didn’t need the look Nea shot his way to hurry to Allen’s side and take the boy’s hands in his own.

“Deep breaths, Allen. You’re okay.”

Allen took a shaky breath and glanced at Nea. Mana drew his attention back to him with, “Do you need a minute?” The boy shook his head, and Mana gave his hands a little squeeze.

That night after Nea had gone home, it felt like they were back to square one. Allen fought tooth-and-nail against bedtime again. Mana was patient, and somehow, he managed to coax the child into going to sleep, even if it was far later than someone Allen’s age should have gone to bed. Mana stayed up a little longer just in case Allen needed something, but when the boy didn’t reappear with excuses of needing water or a late-night snack, he decided it was safe to call it a night himself.

As he passed Allen’s door, though, Mana got a feeling. It wasn’t anything specific, just a feeling that something wasn’t quite right (what Allen would later call his freaky sixth sense, though it was hardly anything as special as that). He paused, listened. There it was again, the sound of muffled whimpering, and it was coming from Allen’s room.

 _A nightmare?_ That didn’t surprise him. After the panic attack earlier, he’d expected one. He poked his head into the room and found Allen tangled in his sheets, hands clamped over his mouth to stifle weeping. Mana hesitated, then stepped into the room.

“It’s just a bad dream,” he said in a low voice as he gave the boy’s shoulder a gentle shake.

That was exactly the wrong thing to do, it turned out. Allen’s eyes snapped open and he lashed out as he scrambled away. His foot caught Mana in the gut, knocking the wind out of him as he screamed, “Don’t touch me!” His eyes were wild, darting around the room before falling back on Mana, seeing through him. His breathing was ragged, and tears streamed down his face.

“It’s all right, Allen,” Mana said, trying to keep his voice even. Not having learned his lesson the first time, he reached out to try and pat the boy on the head, something his mother had done for him whenever he’d had a nightmare, but Allen just flinched back and squeezed himself into a tighter ball.

Mana withdrew his hand, at a loss. He’d always been a touchy-feely person. Hugs, pats on the head or shoulder… those had always brought him comfort. To have Allen fear even those simple gestures left him unsure what to do.

He took a step back to assess the situation. Allen was already beginning to calm down by himself. Even though his eyes were open, Mana could tell he was still half-asleep, and with the nightmare interrupted, the drowsiness was setting back in even if he was fighting against it. After so many nights of restless sleep, there wasn’t much fight left in him. A relief, but also a cause of concern.

Mana’s foot bumped against something, and he looked down. The yellow face of the stuffed Timcanpy grinned up at him and gave him an idea.

“Allen,” he said quietly, scooping up the abandoned toy and placing it next to the huddled figure, “did you know Timcanpy’s really good at chasing away bad dreams?”

Slowly, the tired head lifted and stared at the plush toy with a sniffle. Taking this as an encouraging sign, he continued, “It’s true. Tim goes omnomnom,” and here he wiggled the plushie as he scooted it closer to illustrate the action, “and munches up all the bad dreams if you let him. You just need to tell him what to look out for, and he’ll keep them away.”

A weary scowl at Mana. “I’m not four,” he groused.

“I know,” he replied with a soft smile, “but sometimes that’s the best way to get rid of bad dreams.”

The scowl deepened, but he didn’t fight anymore as Mana coaxed him to lay back down and tucked him back in with the stuffed golem. Allen was asleep again before Mana even closed the door.

By morning, the nightmare was forgotten, or at least Allen pretended it was. Well, Mana supposed that would just have to do for now. He’d already set up something with a psychologist for Allen in a few days. They could manage until then.


End file.
